Team RECK: The World of Remnant
by JayRenEmMau
Summary: In this RWBY ff, follow a girl who can't remember the last 6 years of her life, a Faunus girl with a troubled family past, a girl pressured into training to become a huntress against her wishes, and a girl who's lack of self confidence is the only thing holding her back as they struggle as a team at Beacon Academy to find their confusing and intersecting pasts.
1. Chapter 1: River

**NOTE: THIS IS AN UPDATED VERSION OF THE STORY. IT HAS BEEN MODIFIED FROM THE ORIGINAL VERSION.**

 **A/N : Hey fellow readers! So this may seem weird but Jay, Ren, Em, and Mau are actually four seperate writers. This is Jay talking to you right now. Hiya!**

 **We love RWBY and wanted to make a ff togther, so we each made four seperate characters to make up a team. River is Ren's character and you'll get to meet the rest later.**

 **I'm the one who'll be posting a managning the story but we wrote and created together. Ren, Em, and Mau send their greetings and we all wish you happy reading!**

"Just shut up, you don't understand!" ten-year-old River Bay screamed at her father. Her straight black hair swung in its customary high ponytail, brushing the back of her neck. She had dark brown eyes that were always wanting to glare at her parents, but held back in fear of getting slapped. Her parents were the kind that considered what anyone else would call child-like curiosity, rebelliousness, so River often had a hard time getting acknowledged as her own person at all. But stubborn in nature, River still found the pride to push against her parents in whatever way possible. She and her father were arguing for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day.

"River Esmeralda Bay, you do not speak to me like that! You are a child, and you will do as I say to keep up our public image. Now you are coming to this party whether you want to or not!" her father yelled in her face.

River's face twitched as she felt his hot angry breath against her skin. With mixed emotions of anger and fear coursing through her, the only thing she could think was: _I hate when he uses my middle name._

"Fine." was all she managed to say.

"Now go to your room and put something more appropriate on. If you're not down in ten minutes you'll be skipping your meals again tomorrow," her father spat.

"Yes...sir." she managed to force out. She turned and stiffly strode down the hallway toward her bedroom. When she got into her room, she quickly locked the door and leaned against it, hot angry tears pouring down her face.

Her mind flashed to a day she had been playing with all her "friends". The ones that her parents had picked out for her because their parents had good social backgrounds. She had been walking through a garden by the edge of some woods when a boy about her age jumped out in front of them. The boy had been dressed in filthy rags and tears were streaming down his face. He began to scream at them, cursing them and their rich families for their selfishness. He said that his mother was dying of an illness that they had no money to cure, while the rich pompous brats like them were living in comfort. River remembered being extremely shaken by this, as two guards grabbed the boy and dragged him away. It was a memory that haunted her, not only because she was terrified of what she saw in the other half of the world, but because she realized that was where she would much rather be.

Wiping away her tears, she opened her dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of jeans and a worn out Haven Academy t-shirt (the cheapest clothes she had). Then she slipped them on, as well as a pair of shoes, and grabbed her backpack. In that, she put an armful of snacks from the stash in her room, an extra pair of clothes, and her pack of throwing knives. Her mother had forced her to take self defense classes, and when they got to the point where she would choose a "self defense" weapon, she immediately went for what she thought was the most dangerous and would make her parents the most angry. Not that they knew yet because they hadn't checked on her progress since the class began.

She sat down on her bed for a moment and stared at her wall with a cold and empty expression. Her parents were what made her feel torn on the inside. They would ignore her until it convenienced them. They would scream at her and tell her that she was useless. They never talked to her, never showed her the slightest bit of affection, and they never asked what she wanted; what she took an interest in. Her face hardened and she stood up.

"If no one's gonna care about me, then I'll care about myself. I wish I could be sorry. " She muttered as she silently walked to her window and opened it. She looked down at the ground, which was less than five feet below her. Taking a deep breath, she put her backpack on, tightening the straps around her shoulders. Sitting on the ledge she scooted herself down as far as she could before jumping the rest of the way, tumbling into a roll on the grass below.

She rose to her feet and looked back up at her window before looking out at the open field before her. An overwhelming feeling of relief and joy bubbled up inside her until she let out a real laugh. A real laugh; something she hadn't had for awhile

Looking around to see if the way was clear, little ten-year-old River sprinted across the field and into the nearby woods.

 _Several months later..._

River looked around the small jewelry shop that she was in, tucking her hands inside the pocket of her sleeveless, dark-green and white hoodie. She was now eleven years old, and her parents hadn't come after her, at least to her knowledge. She didn't care. After she had run away she had started stealing from shops to sell the items that she took to get money for food.

Most kids her age would probably die trying to survive on their own, especially those who had grown up as privileged as she had. To say that homelessness was easy for River would be lying, but River was very clever. It came with the abusive parents. But that also made her a bit numb to the fact that she was a criminal; a street rat.

"Young lady, can I help you?" The shopkeeper asked from behind the store counter.

She looked in the direction of the man, and a plan quickly formed in her head. This man was going to make her job much easier.

"Yes, do you perhaps have any other necklaces like this one?" She asked the man with a beautiful smile, pointing to a necklace that she honestly hadn't looked at.

The man thought for a moment and then nodded. "I have a couple more necklaces of that style in the backroom. Would you like me to go get them for you to take a look at?"

She smiled even more. This man was making it a little too easy. Not only were there no customers in the room, but the jeweler was offering to leave the room as well. "Please do." The man nodded and turned around.

As soon as the door to the backroom shut behind him, River grinned and raised her hand. A wisp of darkness -a shadow- floated up to the door handle and solidified, jamming the door.

River Bay had discovered that manipulating and altering the state of shadows was her Semblance a few weeks earlier when she had almost been caught pickpocketing a man. She had darted down an alley, only to discover it was a dead end. She thought that she would be caught for sure, but the shadows had seemed to bend to her will and had wrapped around her, making it look like she wasn't there.

Along with self-defense, her parents had made her take Aura training before she had run away, so she was familiar with the feeling and had played around with it awhile before unlocking her semblance. Her Aura glowed a dark green around her body when activated, a color that she was particularly fond of, as it reminded her of the crisp smell of pine needles in a forest.

Snapping out of her train of thought, River turned and looked at the largest pieces of jewelry. "Which one? Which one?" she murmured quietly. She quickly found a large gold necklace studded with diamonds, that also happened to look moved aside in favor of some more colorful eye-catching jewelry. Grabbing that one, she shoved it in her hoodie pocket.

River raised her hand towards the door and released her hold on the shadow, letting it melt away. A few seconds later the jeweler stepped out carrying a box. "Sorry that took so long. The door was jammed for a second." He set down the box.

"Oh, that's okay." She said, walking over smiling as if she was the nicest person in the world. "I'm actually looking for something a little cheaper today. What are some of your lowest priced options?"

She had learned the hard way that after you take something, you shouldn't be in a rush to leave. You should stay, and either act as though you had forgotten your wallet or buy the cheapest thing the store sells, to make it look less suspicious when you left without buying anything.

"Let's see… Our lowest priced pieces are around a hundred, maybe two hundred lien." The jeweler said with a small shrug. "Let me get them for you to see." He bent down and brought out two small boxes, standing up to place them on the counter.

River opened one of them and saw a silver necklace with tiny red and blue stones embedded around a large green gem in the middle. "It's beautiful. How much is it?" She asked.

She truly did like the necklace, but she wouldn't be getting it for herself to wear. She would buy it at its cheapest price and then sell it for more along with the necklace she had in her pocket.

The man looked at the small price tag and then smiled warmly at the girl standing in front of him. "It's original price is one hundred fifty lien. But I'd be willing to part with it for one hundred twenty-five to such a sweet little girl such as yourself."

River gave him a wickedly sweet smile, "I'll take it."

The man nodded and took the lien cards that she held out to him. When it came to work like this, you had to have a stack of cash on hand. Fortunately River was good at what she did.

He put the necklace back into its box and then put the box in a small bag and handed it to the girl.

"Thank you, sir." She said with one final smile as she turned and walked out of the store.

She had barely taken three steps when she felt something grab her arm.

Instinctively, she dropped the bag that she was carrying and pulled out one of her knives, yanking her arm away from what was holding it.

She looked to see three figures; two boys and a girl. All of them were about her age, maybe a year or so older. One of the boys, and the girl, were human. The boy had brown hair, grey eyes, and pale skin, and reminded her of a weasel. The girl had light chestnut hair in a bun and blue eyes. The one that had grabbed her was a Faunus. He had light grey wolf ears, short pitch black hair, light blue eyes, and a very noticeable scar cut across his cheek. All three of them wore the same thing: black t-shirts, jeans, and shoes. The two boys both had guns both had guns at their sides, the girl had some sort of chain weapon. And they all looked like they knew how to use them.

"What do you want?" River asked holding her knife at the ready. She glared at them angrily.

"Take it easy, little girl. We don't want to hurt you." The young Faunus boy said with a smile.

River glared at him, _Who's he calling little? He's an inch taller than me and probably no older._

"We want to hire you. We saw what you did in that shop. Very smart having the man go into the backroom. And the way you handled him with an air of confidence; you're good."

River's eyes widened as she realized that they had seen her steal. She quickly covered her surprise up with a scowl and she crossed her arms. "Why would you want to hire kid like me? What's in it for me?" She asked questioningly.

"Well, you won't have to be alone anymore. You can get help when you steal things. You'll have a place to stay." The Faunus boy said with a shrug and a smirk, "And technically we're not the ones hiring you, our boss is. He's been watching you for a bit, and thinks you know what you're doing. He sent us to get you and escort you back to the camp."

River wanted to roll her eyes at the cocky young boy. "Your boss dude sounds like a rat. He's hiring kids to do his dirty work? Why is someone like you here?"

"It's not dirty work. It's surviving." The other, pale boy growled. "Why is someone like you here? You're just a street rat, aren't you? Isn't that dirty work?"

River didn't have an answer for that. The wolf-eared boy took a step forward. "So, little lady, what's it gonna be?"

River hesitated and thought about what the boy had said. It was so alone out in the world by herself. Everyone hated her for being a street rat, or liked the person she was pretending to be. It was hard finding places to sleep, hard finding food to eat. But these kids weren't alone. In fact they seemed like friends. They helped each other out. Just watching their subtle body language, the way they stood together, it made River jealous. She wanted friends. She wanted someone to stand beside her like that. And if she was getting paid for it...

"I'm in." She said finally, coming to her decision. But she would be careful not to let them twist her mind. _The minute they start using me too much, I'm out of there,_ she promised herself.

The kids all grinned. The Faunus boy held out his hand and said, "Welcome to the group, 'River Bay,' This is Lark," He said, pointing to the girl. "And this is Otter." He pointed to the pale, skinny boy.

 _Fitting_ , she thought. But she was distracted the faunus boy's sharp blue eyes.

"I'm Canyon," he said.

She shook his hand and smiled. This kid's snarky, cocky attitude was almost more than she could take, but somehow, she knew that the two of them were going to get along.

 _Six years later..._

River woke up lying on the ground in an alley. Slowly, she sat up. The first thing she noticed was that her head hurt, and she saw that her arm was bleeding.

"Where am I?" She whispered to herself through a hoarse voice. The last thing she remembered was walking out of that jewelry store. As she looked down at herself she realized that years must have passed since then. For one, her body looked like one of a young woman and not of a young girl.

She quickly stood up and looked down at herself. She was wearing an auburn colored halter top that stopped five inches below her chest. She also had on black leggings and combat boots, and she saw that her knife holder was strapped to her waist. Her black hair was longer than she remembered, in a messy side braid that went a little past her waist.

"How could I go from eleven to... this and not remember it..." She muttered to herself. Though strangely enough, she felt very natural in her body.

She looked out of the alley and into a street, bustling with people and cars. There was nothing distinct about her location, and nothing that she remembered. "Maybe I can find what day it is. And where I am."

She walked out onto the sidewalk and looked around, before striding up to a group of people. She tapped one of them on the shoulder. It was a teenage boy, possibly eighteen. He had blond hair and blue eyes. He jumped when he saw her. " C-can I help you?" He asked with wide eyes as he looked at her.

She realized she must look pretty bad; covered in dirt and blood.

"Umm, yes. Could you perhaps tell me what the date is today?" Her mind raced, trying to think up a reasonable lie to tell him if he or anyone in the group of people asked.

When he didn't answer right away one of his girl companions punched him in the arm, "She asked you a question, you idiot." The girl said and turned to River, "Don't mind him, he does that to all girls who ask him questions." She looked nervous but told River what the day was.

River went numb; she felt fear creeping through her veins, making her blood run cold. She shook off the feeling and forced a smile. "T-thank you. Have a nice day." Then she quickly turned and walked away.

She walked for several blocks and turned at the corner. "How could that much time have passed? That means I'm... seventeen now. How could six full years pass without me remembering a single thing?" She muttered to herself.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Okay, River. First things first, find out what city you're in." She looked around. There was a bookstore, an ice cream shop, a tanning salon...

Then she recognized one of the shops. A clothing store. It was one that she and her "friends" used to go to when their parents wanted them to spend time together. It had very expensive, designer brand clothing. She could very clearly remember her parents turning her down every time she asked for something, even though she knew full well they had more than enough money.

"That means I'm the city of Raeg, which is in the kingdom of Vale. Great; just great." She was looking around, still trying to process, when she heard of running away from it to preserve herself, as she would have when she was younger, she ran towards it, almost instinctively.

When she got to where the screaming was coming from she saw a man holding a gun and pointing it at a group of kids who were on some sort of field trip. He was telling the teachers that unless they gave him a certain amount of money the kids would get shot.

Without thinking River walked towards the man. She stopped when she was ten feet away. "Put the gun down, now." She said to him icily.

The man turned towards her frowning, he studied her for a second and then grinned, "What are you gonna do?"

She grinned back. "Wanna find out?" She reached into her knife pouch and drew out several of the shorter ones that were better for throwing.

The man stopped pointing the gun at the kids and laughed, "Very well then, little girl, you want a fight? Go ahead." But she saw the fear flicker through his eyes.

He had barely finished the sentence when River threw one of the knives. It flew through the air and sliced his arm. He let out a cry of pain and dropped his gun. River dove forward, grabbed the gun from the ground, and aimed it at the man.

The man looked at her and scowled, "You idiot girl. I never had any bullets in that gun."

Taking out the magazine, she saw that he was telling the truth. She grinned and tossed the gun into a bush as far away from him as possible. "Ok that just makes my job easier. I hate using guns." River paused for a moment, confused at her own reason for hating guns. Didn't she used to love them? She very clearly remembered being ecstatic when she had first learned how to hold one at a young age as a part of her training course.

The man glared at her. Slowly standing up, he put his hand on the hilt of the knife that was in his arm and tore it out. He lunged forward so quickly that River didn't have enough time to get out of the way. He knocked her onto the ground. She struggled for a few seconds until she managed to flip the man over and pinned him to the ground instead. The man noticed her knife pouch and grabbed it. River leapt off of him, trying to keep the pouch out of his reach, but it was too late, and he tore the pouch from around her waist.

"Dang it!" She muttered as she realized that the only weapon that she had was one of her smaller throwing knives. The man laughed and reached his hand into the pouch to grab a knife from it.

As he looked down, River ran forward and kicked him backwards into a shadow of a tree. She smiled and lifted up one of her hands. A small sliver of the shadow wrapped around the man's throat and became solid. The man choked and gasped for air, grasping at his throat. River heard gasps from the group of small children and bit her lip. _Sorry kids. There goes your innocence._ After a few minutes, the man's body slumped over, unconscious.

She ran forwards and grabbed her knife pouch. At that moment, three police cars showed up, along with a huntsman. Two of the policemen took the man to the jail. Another started coming forward to question her, but the huntsman stopped him.

He was tall and had blackish-grey hair, pale skin, and black eyes. He wore a red tattered cape over a long sleeve white and grey striped shirt, and black pants and shoes. After he and the policemen exchanged a few words, the huntsman walked up to River.

"Hey there. I'm Qrow, huntsman and headmaster at Beacon, the best huntsman Academy there is. I'd like to talk to you." The man said, holding out his hand.

"Um, hi. I'm River." She said shaking his hand.

"River... Do you have a last name?" Qrow asked raising an eyebrow as he led River towards a car.

"Bay. River Bay. Why do you want to talk to me?" She asked with uncertainty as he opened the door to the car and gestured for her to climb in. She hesitated, but then decided that if this really was a huntsman she would be safe. She got in and he hopped in after her.

"So you're Alex and Elise Bay's kid, who went missing about seven years ago, are you? I'm guessing you ran away. Was there a reason for it?" Qrow said as he nodded towards the driver, who started the car and began to drive down the road and out of the city.

River looked at Qrow and frowned, "Of course there was a reason. I wasn't going to play their slave games anymore. Now you tell me, where are we going and what's the real reason you want to talk to me? Because I am not going back to them." She demanded angrily.

"Calm down, will you? I'm not taking you back to your parents. And no one else will either. I saw that fight you just had with the guy. Who trained you? I know your parents had you take some kind of lessons on fighting, but I have a feeling that someone else taught you how to throw a knife that accurately. And how to use your semblance. So tell me, where have you been for six and a half years?" Qrow asked.

River frowned and tried to remember something after walking out of the jewelry store six years ago. When she failed to remember anything, she tried to recall the people who had made her stop walking, but couldn't even remember their names or why they had stopped her. She looked up at Qrow, "I-I don't remember," she said quietly.

"What do you mean, you don't remember?" Qrow asked, sitting up straight and looking at River closely.

"I-I mean that I woke up this morning and the last thing I remember, I was eleven and was walking out of a store when someone stopped me. I don't remember who." River's voice was hoarse. She had left out the part about her stealing a necklace from the store.

Qrow frowned and studied the girl next to him. He nodded, "Hmm, six years passed and you don't remember any of it. Interesting."

"I'm telling the truth!" She exclaimed. But then she added, "Please don't tell anyone." She didn't know what happened to her, and frankly, she didn't want anyone else to know until she figured out herself.

Qrow just laughed, which annoyed River. "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me. The real reason I am talking to you is to tell you that I want you in Beacon. Students are running short. Good people are finding… other ways to use their skills." Qrow said, looking at her to gauge her reaction.

She swallowed. "...I can't go to Beacon. I don't have the money, and my parents most likely disowned me after I ran away," River said, looking out the window.

Qrow smiled. "I never said that you had to pay, I was gonna say that I am giving you a scholarship to go to the school."

"You're joking," River said, staring at Qrow. Becoming a huntress had never crossed her mind in all of her… forgotten life. But she didn't want to be a filthy, homeless criminal. Something about her unremembered past was telling her that what Qrow was offering was where she was supposed to be.

The man chuckled again. "No, I am not joking." The car slowed to a stop.

Qrow tossed River a roll of lien. "I only expect you to pay me back some way or another in the future. The semester starts in a week, and I expect you to be there."

River got out of the car, but before she could say thank you, the door shut and the car drove off.

She turned and looked around, and saw that she was standing outside of a hotel. She looked down at the money in her hands. "This is a lot of lien." She said to herself, staring down at it. She looked back up at the small hotel. "Guess I'll put it to use."

River managed to get one of the cheapest rooms available at the place. When she got into the tiny room, she took off her knife pouch and put it onto the dresser by the bed. Then she walked into the bathroom area and took a long look at herself in the mirror.

She looked as if she had bathed in a mixture of dirt, sand, and blood. Her pants had a tear in the knee -probably from when she had dove for the gun- and her arm had a large cut and dried blood on it. Now she knew why the kid's she had talked to had looked so terrified. She could only imagine what that huntsman had thought of her.

She sighed and slowly undid her tangled braid. She looked through the drawers by the sink for something to brush it with and luckily found a comb that someone had left behind.

She tried to comb her hair, but the knots in it were awful. While she was trying to get the comb unstuck from a strand of her hair, she saw something glimmer in the lighting and noticed four small, emerald colored gems on her head.

She frowned and looked closer into the mirror. They were each about half the size of a dime and were placed so that two were on either side of her face on her temples, but were not very noticable.

She raised her hand and ran her finger over one of them before pushing down hard. Almost immediately her head started to pound painfully.

"What the hell?" she gasped loudly.

 _They must be some type of jewelry thing that I got, and I don't remember..._ River thought to herself.

"Because I can't remember anything!" She growled out of frustration. She raised a hand to run her fingers through her hair but frowned when they got caught in the black strands, reminding her that she should get cleaned off.

She undressed and got into the shower, sighing as the hot water ran over her face. It seemed to wash away her anxiety along with the dirt and sweat. She took fifteen minutes untangling her hair and cleaning off the layer of mud she had acquired.

After she had dried off and put on the cleaner clothes that she'd been able to buy off of the hotel manager, she was forced to face her thoughts. Her mind got the best of her as she felt a panicked feeling rising in her chest. Her hands and knees were shaking and she sat down on the modest little bed that sat in the corner of the room.

"O-okay, River, what do you know? You know you'll be at Beacon in a week. Or… you think you will…" she frowned "You can take this time to try and remember everything, and find out who the heck you are now."

Deciding it would be best to rest now and deal with her anxiety later, River climbed into bed and fell into a deep fatigue-laden sleep.

She didn't know what was going on. She didn't know what to expect. But whatever it was, she knew there'd be no such thing as a "normal" life for her.

 **A/N : Jay here again. But here is a message from Ren:**

 **Hey ya'll! This is Ren, River's creator! It was a lot of fun creating River's personality and all of that! (hahaha I kind of mixed some of my own personality in her-cough cough probably all of it- ) I hope ya'll liked this chapter! I hope ya'll are excited to read the rest of the story! Oh wait! I already know what happens! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! :)**


	2. Chapter 2: Ember

**A/N: Hey hey hey, guys! It's Jay, Ren, Em, and Mau here! Did you like the first chapter? What'dya think will happen to River?**

 **Well here's the next chapter. This is Jay's character. She had a LOT of fun creating her and has a lot of little secrets about Ember that were inspired by her life and personality. One of them is Ember's last name. Try spelling it backwords! It came from Ember's aura color(And a lack of creativity Haha!)**

 **Well anyway, we hope you enjoy this chapter. Happy reading!**

Seventeen-year-old Ember Egnaro looked out her small, crooked window. It was summertime and therefore extremely hot. Unfortunately, her window had no glass and her hut no air conditioning. That was one of the downsides of her current poverty. So she tried her best to cool off in the gentle breeze flicking through the leaves of the trees.

She lived in a small Faunus village called Savage Creek, no doubt named by the humans that it was begged from. The Faunus were used to being treated poorly, though, no matter how unjust it was and how long it had been occurring. Her father always said, "The evil in the world has to go somewhere. We're stronger than them. We won't let it consume us." But Ember was sick of it. Especially since she received more hatred than most.

She was an unusual Faunus. A fox Faunus. he had two animal traits,making her "twice the animal," as many humans said. She looked down at her fluffy, orange tail curled around her waist, and flicked her ears.

Ember smiled. Two feature she was proud of were her hair and eyes. Her hair was a bright, shining auburn and very pretty. It fell just past her shoulder blades. Her eyes were a bright green. They brought her a lot of attention- unwanted attention. She hated attention.

Sighing, she thought about her life. Her poor family. Her hard-working father who wouldn't return from the iron factory until 10:00 at night. Her 5 siblings. _No, 4 siblings._ Ember scowled. She would never consider her older brother family ever again. Not after he ran off with that group of thieves and left her family to fend for themselves.

"Ember! Go get the water, I'm waiting!"

 _Dust!_ Ember unraveled her tail and flattened her ears back in panic. She was supposed to have gone to the well for water ten minutes ago!

She jumped out of her window and grabbed the buckets by the front door. Not many had to get water this way anymore, but her home didn't have water pipes. Her father and older brother had built it with their own hands, just like many other less fortunate in the community.

She ran through her village to the well,past old, mostly hand-built houses. Past an alley where kids were playing a game with some sticks and an old tin can. Past some fruit stands were a merchant was yelling at a hungry reptile Faunus who had tried to nab some food.

Suddenly she felt the ground beneath her vanish as someone grabbed her from behind and lifted her up.

Her scream was muffled by a hand over her mouth. Wide-eyed, Ember activated her Aura to protect herself, the orange glow covering her body. She pulled her legs up and kicked hard into her enemy's solar plexus.

With a cry of pain, her attacker dropped her onto the ground. She recovered with a summersault and whirled around, about to punch her perpetrator in the face until she saw-

"Hank?!"

An old panther Faunus, in his early forties, grunted a greeting as he clutched his stomach, trying to catch his breath.

"Nice moves there, Kit. You're getting better everyday." He put a hand on his back and flicked his graying tail. "And I'm getting older every day."

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Ember asked, still reeling from the surprise.

Hank just laughed. "Are you going to say that after you kick a real threat in the gut?"

Ember rolled her bright green eyes. "Of course not."

The old man looked at her fondly. "I know you're going to make me proud."

The girl looked at her feet. She didn't know how to respond to compliments. They were uncommon for her. "If only I could go to a real huntress school."

Huntsmen and huntresses were the protectors of the world of Remnant. They were the ones who took down the criminals and wrong-doers. But most of all, they kept Remnant safe from the creatures of Grimm. The monsters that came in many different forms, but all were black and had red eyes, and white armor. They had no souls, and had only one purpose. To kill. Hank had been a huntsman, many years ago. He would tell her terrifying and amazing stories, and Ember knew he missed the excitement.

"Hey, are you saying my lessons aren't real?" Hank laughed.

Ember smiled. "No they're better."

She had always wanted to be a huntress, but had never had money for training, having to save what little her family had for food and "real" education.

When she was ten, her rebellious and determined nature had taken over and she had decided to train on her own. Hank found her in an alley, beating a garbage can with a metal pole, and immediately took a liking to her.

Ever since that day, Hank had taught her all he knew. He himself had trained at Beacon Academy, one of the greatest schools for hunters and huntresses on all of Remnant. He lent her books on Grimm, weapons, and dust. Never had he met someone filled with such determination. And he swore to himself that, one day, he would make her dream come true.

"I wish I could give you more." He told her sadly, now. But there was a strange twinkle in his eye. "Run along now, Kit."

Ember raised an eyebrow at his smile but nodded and turned to go, picking up the fallen buckets.

"Oh, and Ember?"

She halted and turned back around. "Yeah?"

"Meet me in Shadow Meadow at seven p.m. sharp. Got it?"

"But my mom-"

"Already taken care of. And bring your weapon and armor, okay?"

"Uh...sure."

"Great. See you then!" And he was gone.

Ember, now more puzzled then ever, twitched her ears and headed once more for the well.

R…..E….….C….….K

Ember tightened her weapon belt. After dinner with her family, she had slipped away to her family's shared bedroom and had gotten her fighting gear from her rusty trunk. She was very lucky to have found the trunk in such good condition, and she went through great lengths to keep it that way.

She wore a half-waisted black combat jacket-with pockets for ammo!-over her long-sleeved orange shirt. She had her usual black leggings and orange-trimmed, black combat boots. On her shoulders, elbows, knees, and shoe tips she had circular black metal armor. She wore black gloves that came a little past her wrists and left only her fingers exposed. Lastly, she had a black belt that held the the clamps to keep her weapon in place behind her back.

Her weapon was a foot-long pole that expanded into a long staff. It had a blade on the side, near the top, that came down about a third of the the pole's length, and a spear that could be extended out on the tip. Plus, if she pushed down in the right places, the staff curved backwards, creating a longbow.

Ember loved her weapon. She had named it StellaJay, as most people gave their weapons a special and distinguishable name. It was a present from her older brother. One of the last remaining good memories she had of him is when he had given it to her. She wasn't exactly sure how he acquired it though.

Ember sighed and put her weapon in its clamps behind her back. She looked at the ancient, clunky scroll that her family shared, which was sitting on a hand-made wooden table in the corner of the room.

 _Dust! Dust! Dust!_ The sundial read 6:45 p.m. Hank said 7:00 sharp!

She ran out of the bedroom and headed for the front door. Tail swishing behind her.

"Where are you going?"

Ember stopped and turned around. Her two younger sisters (Both were rabbit Faunus) were looking at her armor curiously. She didn't usually train this late at night.

"Yeah, where are you going?" Her fourteen-year-old brother scowled. He had the tail of a crocodile.

"None of your business." Ember rolled her eyes.

"You're going to train with that old man again, aren't you?"

Ember's eyes narrowed, "So what if I am?"

Her brother glared at her. "You'll never become a huntress. They'll never accept you for who you are. Only what you are. Why don't you wake up?"

"Shut up, Jayden. Colden has twisted your mind."

"You're the one with the twisted mind! Our older brother was the only one with common sense. If humans are going to view us as animals, then why should we try to be anything else?!"

"That's what the White Fang said, and you know how they turned out. Are we going to stoop even lower than the humans?" Ember was trying to remain calm, but adrenaline coursed through her body.

Although the White Fang had been stopped, and with the help of other Faunus no less, people's thoughts on what they called "animals in the skins of humans" had worsened. And although the renewed White Fang was working hard to keep peace- holding meetings with the kingdoms' council and giving speeches on Faunus equality- there were still many prejudice humans that wouldn't listen. The only thing left to do now was keep up hope.

Jayden clenched his fists. "You're wrong! You're all wrong! This has been going on for ages. There will never be equality! Things will never change! Are we going to let them stomp on us? Or are we going to take back what's ours?!"

"Being a criminal is not the answer!" Ember yelled in her brother's face.

"Then what is the ans-"

"I don't know!" Ember closed her eyes and took a deep breath. " I don't… know." She realized that her tail was swishing violently back and forth and stopped it. "This is a waste of time." She glared at her brother one last time and ran before he could get in another word.

Deep in thought, she didn't look where she was going. She didn't need to. Her feet knew the way to Shadow Meadow, the place where she had so often trained with Hank. In their secret place, Grimm abounded and people were few, making it the perfect place to practice.

A month ago she had discovered Jayden's secret. He wanted to join the group of thieves Colden had joined as well. She couldn't understand it. How could they leave behind their family to fend for themselves, while they selfishly stole from humans just because they weren't treated exactly like everyone else? She would rather be a Faunus that took the unkind treatment than a human that dealt it.

Her older brother had left them when she was ten. He had started constantly "hanging out with friends" when she was eight. Being only a year apart, they had been very close. He tried to make her follow him. She did once. She shuddered at the memory.

He had been eleven and she had been almost ten. He had tried teaching her how to pickpocket. When he demonstrated on one of the neighbors as an example, she had started crying and ran off. He caught her before she could make it back to her parents and made her swear she would never tell, pressing her against a wall and holding a small blade to her throat. It was then that their trust had been broken.

Four months later, he had left their house forever. She had seen him fleeing down the path and had run to get her dad. But it was too late. He was gone. She remembered vividly her mother's tears and her father's angry shouts.

Ember was brought back to the present as she felt a tear roll down her face. She quickly wiped it away and looked around. She was just outside of Shadow Meadow.

Now to find out what this is all about. She started heading into the meadow.

"Hank?" Ember yelled. "Hank, where are you?" Ember cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hank, what is this all-" A deep growl from behind her sent a shiver down Ember's spine. Wide-eyed, she slowly turned around.

Standing just fifteen feet away was the biggest Ursa Major Ember had ever seen.

"Wow," She squeaked.

The Ursa let out a deafening roar that snapped the fox girl into action. Quickly, she grabbed her staff from behind her back, expanding it to its full length, and twirling it around her body to warm her muscles up. Her tail swished and her ears flicked.

"Come on and fight me." She popped out the blade on the side of her staff, her eyes narrowing in determination.

The Ursa rushed forward. Ember didn't move. The Grimm stopped and raised its clawed paw, ready to strike. But suddenly, its prey was gone.

Ember, who had activated her semblance of invisibility, smirked. She dodged the giant paw, swinging her staff into the side of the Ursa.

The Ursa howled in pain, and whipped around to see its attacker, trying in vain to catch a glimpse.

Ember twirled her staff around her head. She jumped into the air and brought the spear end down into the ursa's side once more.

The monster shook her off and she dropped to the ground. Quickly, she recovered with a series of back handsprings, landing on her feet and sliding backwards some. Looking down, she realized her semblance had slipped and she was visible again. Dust!

The ursa charged at her again,but this time she was ready. She front-flipped onto its back and used her staff to push off and shove the beast forward into the ground.

Now the ursa was mad. Really mad. It growled and scuffed its foot on the ground.

It ran forward once more, but surprised Ember by stopping suddenly.

Ember, who was already in the middle of another jump, landed five feet off her mark and rolled, barely managing to keep her balance.

The ursa took this advantage and swiped its mighty paw at her, knocking her back by thirty feet.

Ember landed on her back and used the momentum to kick backwards over her head and flip to her feet.

The ursa was running towards her to attack again. She ran to a tree on the edge of the meadow and jumped into it. Quickly, she formed an idea in her mind.

She transformed her staff into its bow form, and pulled an arrow that was in its folded form out of a pouch on her belt. She clicked a button on her arrow that made it expand to its full size, before nocking it and pulling back the string.

The grimm was almost next to the tree now. Too close!

She jumped into another tree. And then another. She kept doing this until she was around thirty feet away from the monster. Then she pulled the string of her bow back again, lined the sight up with the ursa, and took the shot.

The arrow flew through the air and hit its target. It let out a small explosion upon the grimm, catching it off guard and making it fall to the ground, where it struggled to stand up.

Ember smiled. Instead of her arrows having a pointed tip, they had ones that were filled with fire dust, which exploded on impact. It took a while to get her bow out and get a shot lined up, but once she did, the results were worth it.

She jumped from the tree and ran to a rare paved path, making sure to get the ursa's attention along the way by snapping her bow back into a spear and screaming a war cry as she raced past it.

The ursa had gotten to its feet again and was chasing after her once more. When she reached the pavement she turned and waited for the beast.

"C'mon bud, just die already!" Ember huffed.

The angry ursa caught up with her and charged with all its might. But Ember disappeared, having activated her semblance again.

She circled around the confused and angry grimm, viciously cutting into its sides again and again. The beast roared in agony and stumbled to the ground.

She deactivated her semblance then charged at the ursa major and delivered a final blow on its chest.

The monster roared once more, and disappeared in a breeze of ashes. Dead.

Ember bent down and put her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

From behind her she heard a strange, rhythmic sound. Her mind snapped into action once more, searching for the sound. It sounds like..clapping?

She whipped around and saw Hank standing next to an old man. It was a human, clapping, looking extremely impressed. He had on a white and gray shirt, a bright red cape, and black pants . He ran a hand through his graying black hair and said, "I must say, Miss Egnaro, you really can handle yourself in a fight."

Hank's smile was a mile wide. "Didn't I tell you, Qrow?"

"Who are you?" Ember demanded of the man.

"Woah there, calm down. I'm Qrow. The headmaster of Beacon Academy." The man introduced himself.

"H-headmaster?"

"That's right." Hank said "That grimm you fought was a test."

"Ya, It was a real hassle gettin' that thing out here." Qrow added.

"But if your the headmaster…" Ember thought hard. "A-and this was a test…"

Hank smiled "Looks like you're catching on, Kit."

"I'd like to offer you a spot at Beacon." Qrow said. "But first, another test. If you could be any kitchen utensil what would you be?"

"Excuse me?"

"Kitchen Utensil! You have five seconds to answer. Go!"

"What?! U-um a spatula?" Kitchen utensil? Ember rarely spent time in the kitchen, so she'd just yelled the first one she could think of.

Qrow put a hand on his chin "Hmm. Spatula. Very interesting. Okay. You're in. I expect you at Beacon in two weeks."

"What? Really?!" Ember's heart rate started beating a hundred miles an hour.

"Well,it's time for me to go.." Qrow turned around abruptly and started walking away. He took a long drink from a canteen he was carrying which, no doubt, contained some sort of alcoholic drink.

When he was a good distance away Ember turned to Hank.

"The drunk didn't believe me when I told him you could fight." Hank laughed.

"Is this really happening?!" Ember squealed, her eyes shining in the moonlight. "How do you even know him?"

"Qrow knows everyone. At least to a certain extent," Hank said cryptically.

Ember frowned. "I can't pay for this."

Hank just kept smiling. "I was a Hunter once you know, Kit. You get paid quite a bit for that. When I retired and moved back to my simple life in the village, I put most of it in savings for something just like this."

"What? No you can't! You- It's your money! I-"

"Hey." Hank cut her off. "You're right. It's my money. And I can do what I want with my money."

Ember's worried look faded as her face slowly melted in to a smile . "Thanks, Hank." She wrapped her arms around her trainer and mentor. "Thank you so much."

 _I can't believe it._ Ember thought. _I'm going to be a huntress!_

 **A/N: Yay! Chapter two! This is Jay, by the way. So how did you like Ember? And what about her little brother? Hmm... We of COURSE had to make one character a faunus so I chose a fox (Which is one of my favorite animals) and I really like the way it's turned out.**

 **Well that's all for now! See you in the next chapter!**

 **P.S. Is anyone else HYPED for the holiday season? Because I am SO hyped! I got a christmas sweater, baked some cookies, got a GIANT Christmas lightbulb, and I'm learning Christmas songs on my violin. I am gonna be SO ready this year!**

 **-Jay**


	3. Chapter 3: Clara

**A/N: Hey guys! Jay, Ren, Em, and Mau, back atcha again. Here is Em's character: Clara. I know it looks like the chapters are getting shorter and shorter, but don't worry, that's not the case. We'll have some longer ones in the future.** **We hope you enjoy. Happy reading!**

The man in front of Clara James' tried to direct a well-aimed blow to her side, but she avoided it and, instead, tried and succeeded to return the favor with her hand crafted longsword called Parete Violeta. She was training to fight like a huntress with a man named Tom, who had been her trainer for years.

Clara had brown eyes and brown hair with bangs that fell across her face. She was wearing black leggings and a light blue cold shoulder shirt, with combat boots.

Clara didn't really want to be a huntress. I mean sure, she had gone through a phase where becoming a huntress was her dream, much like any other little girl. And when she was a little older she had considered that career path. But the only real reason she was training to become a huntress was because her mother wanted her to.

Clara's father had left her and her mother when she was little. Her father used to be a loving family man, and although Clara had been to young to notice the transition very much, her father had started distancing himself from them. He would go out with his group of men and do who knows what. He would waste money on things like deer hunting equipment and alcohol and lie about it to Clara's mother. Eventually he up and left them with no trace. Now Clara and her mom (Who had been a huntress herself) had been struggling ever since.

Clara's trainer blocked her sword with his own and spun around before getting a

kick in. Clara stumbled back and put a hand on her sore stomach. "Hey! Dust, that hurt!"

Her trainer shook his head, "Aura, Clara. You always forget. Use your Aura!"

"Right." Clara grumbled. She activated her Aura and a purple light surrounded her figure, soothing the pain in her stomach.

"You have to want to use it. It won't activate on its own." Her trainer reminded her. "If you want to use it, it will become like a second nature."

"But what if I don't want to?" Clara mumbled.

"What was that?" Her trainer asked.

Just then, her mother, Kaya, called her on her scroll and told her to come home, relieving Clara from having to explain herself to the man.

 _3 years later …_

"Oh, come on. What's the big issue? All you have to do is mail a letter!" Clara's mother was telling her. Kaya was tall and tough looking, but she had a kind face that made her approachable. She had long dark brown messy hair and friendly brown eyes.

"The ' _big issue'_ is that I don't want to be a huntress. You're the only thing that has kept me from quitting my training and I'm tired of your pushing!I told you, I want to be an artist." Clara spoke firmly to her mom. She had always liked to draw, and she had a knack for it too, but she was also 17 and, as Kaya continually reminded her, just the right age to apply to a combat school.

"I know, honey, but I can't be a huntress like I used to be. And you would be so good at it. I mean at this rate, you'll be almost as good as me in no time." Kaya said with a smirk. Then she sighed. "How about I make you a deal?"

Clara frowned. Her mother only made bets when she knew that she would win. "What's the deal?"

Her mother grinned. "If you can't beat your trainer today during practice, you have to apply at Beacon. If you beat him, I will let you go to art school. Okay?"

Clara thought about it for a moment, then smiled.. _I can do this, right? I just have to keep my concentration._ "Deal!" She told her mother. But even as she said it with confidence, she felt doubt creeping up on her.

Kaya herded her out the door and said, "Good, now get going, girly. You don't want to keep Tom waiting." Tom was Clara's trainer. He had brown hair and a beard. Little did Clara know that while she saw him fight almost every day, she had never actually seen all that he was capable of.

When Clara got to the training ring, Tom was waiting for her, grinning.

"You seem to be in a good mood today." Clara said to him, returning his grin with a frown. He never met her with a smile.

"Your mother told me about the bet. I'm very excited for this." Tom said studying his sword's edge. "Shall we get started so that we can tell your mother the results?"

Clara sighed and moved into her fighting position. Tom smiled and got into his position, across the circle from her.

"Ready? GO!" Tom said. And Immediately Clara lunged forward to strike at his chest with her sword.

Tom, being of course the one who had trained her, expected this. He dove forward and rolled in between her legs, which she had made the mistake of keeping too far apart.

Instead of coming to his feet right away, he swept his leg around and knocked Clara in the back of her knees, causing her to stagger. She regained her balance in time to lift her sword to block a blow from Tom's sword.

Tom pulled his sword back again, causing Clara to fall forward. He grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the ground.

Clara fell on her back, but quickly used her legs to kick Tom in the chest and shove him over her head, onto the ground. She used that momentum to roll herself up and grab her sword again.

Tom also got up and got into stance with Clara again.

"That was a lackluster attack attempt. You never think about what you're doing." Tom scolded. They circled each other. "You always seem so out of it. That's your problem. You need to put your soul into it. Don't just do the fight, _be_ the fight."

Clara stopped circling. "You always say that I can't fight if I don't put myself into it. But how can I do that when I have no motivation? How can I fight when I have no passion for it. No drive." She paused, unable to bring herself back into the present.

Tom smiled. This is what he was waiting for. He charged at her. She just barely got her sword in front of his, and was still knocked off balance.

Within seconds, Tom kicked his leg under Clara's again, knocking her off her feet. She hit the ground and her breath was knocked out of her. She lay on the ground gasping, trying to breathe.

Tom sat down and laughed. "Guess we know who won this fight. And who is going to apply at Beacon Academy." He pulled out his scroll and dialed Kaya's number.

"Who won?" Clara's mother's voice asked excitedly from the other line.

"Your daughter is going to become a huntress, Kaya!" Tom answered, grinning.

Later that day Clara, against her will, sent a letter to Beacon, applying for the school. A week later she got the reply.

"Now all you have to do is take the exam." Kaya said to Clara.

"Exam? You never said there was an exam involved! Now I know for sure I won't get in. You should've just let me apply to an art school!" Clara complained. _This is not going to be easy,_ she thought to herself.

As Clara walked to the library in her village, she was thinking of the possibilities of what she could expect. She knew it would be a written exam, but she wasn't sure exactly how things would go.

When she got there and entered through the double doors, she saw a few kids around her age that she recognized, and a woman that she didn't.

The woman was old-looking with grey streaks in her black hair and a few wrinkles in her annoyed face.

Clara was just about to ask where the written exams were when the woman spoke.

"Alright, anyone who is here for the exams for Beacon Academy, take a seat in the chairs around you. Anyone who is not, the door is right over there."She said this in a serious tone. There was a moment of annoyed whispers and the sounds of people exiting the library and shuffling.. When everyone was seated, she spoke again.

"My name is Professor Saylene Gray, and you all can call me Professor Gray. I am a professor at Beacon Academy. I am here to oversee the written exams that all of you are going to be taking. Now I am going to give you all a scroll and on them will be a series of questions. What you are going to do is answer them. Now, some of them will be multiple choice, some of them will be short response questions, and some of them will be true or false. You will answer every one of them. There will be a timer, and you will have thirty minutes to answer fifty questions. Do you have any questions?" She added almost as an afterthought.

After no one raised their hand, Professor Gray handed out the scrolls.

"Ready? Go!" Just like that, Professor Gray closed her eyes for a second and a large stopwatch appeared in front of the teenagers. As it started to tick, the kids immediately snapped out of their awed states and started clicking on the scrolls they were given.

Clara read the first question to herself. 'What drives you to become a Huntsman/Huntress?' _My sneak of a mother that's what._ She thought to herself.

There were more questions like that, and then questions about what she knew about being a Huntress. Like question thirty-four, a multiple choice question: "If you come across a Nevermore, what is the first thing that you would do?"

 _Shoot it in the face before it even got close to me, s_ he thought. But unfortunately, that wasn't one of the options.

"Five minutes left!" Professor Gray called.

Clara smirked. She only had one question left: "Which of the following options is not in the Oath of Hunters?"

 _Are you kidding me?! How am I supposed to know that? I don't walk around reciting it all day!_ She literally had no idea what the answer could be.

"One minute!" Professor Gray's voice interrupted her silent panicking.

 _Dust!_ She randomly selected one of the answers and prayed that it was the correct one.

Placing the scroll down, she sat back in her chair.

"Time's up!" The professor called. "Now remember, you have to get forty-nine of the questions correct to pass."

 _Oh boy._ Clara panicked. _I better have gotten every other question right!_

But the more she thought about it the less she cared. After all, if she didn't pass, she wouldn't have to go to Beacon.

"Hand in your scrolls. I will turn them into the school's computer for grading. Best of luck to you. I hope to see you at Beacon soon. Good day." And with that, she packed her things, collected and left the building.

The girl in the chair next to her leaned over to Clara. "Geez, that test was intense! So, what's your name?"

Clara frowned. "I'm no one. Who wants to know?"

The other girl scoffed. "Well, sorry for asking."

Clara quickly got up and left the building. She headed in the direction of her house.

 _Well, that didn't go very well._ She sighed. She hadn't meant to be rude to the girl. She was just being...cautious. Ever since her father left her, she had always been extremely cautious around people she didn't know. She was just trying to protect herself.

When she got home and went inside, her mother came running up to her with a big smile on her face.

"Well? How was it? How did you do? Come on! Tell me!" Kaya said, holding her daughter's hands.

"I will! You just have to let me talk!" Clara said in a playful tone, hoping that if she were to joke around with her mother, it would help the confusion about her life stop.

"All right, all right. Go on." Kaya said. But before Clara could say anything, she was being pulled into the living room of their small house, and pushed into a sitting position on the couch by her mother."Okay, now go." Kaya said with a laugh.

Clara chuckled. "Well there isn't really that much to tell. I got to the library, an old grumpy professor handed out the scrolls and, me and some other people took the test."

"How did you do?" Her mother asked excitedly.

"I don't know. I won't get the results for another week."

"Well as far as I'm concerned, you as good as got in."

"What do you mean?" Clara's heart dropped.

" _I mean_ I'm proud of you. You have come really far since you started training with Tom." Kaya said proudly.

For the rest of the week, all Clara's mom did was talk about how much she would like Beacon, ignoring when Clara would bring up how they didn't even know whether she got in or not.

Finally, the results came in. She stared at the letter the courier had handed her in shock, unable to stop reading the first word: a bright and cheery "Congratulations!"

"Told you so!" Kaya said in a singsong voice.

Clara rolled her eyes. Sometimes her mother reminded her of a three-year-old "I get it! You were right." She grumbled.

"You better get packing! The semester begins in two weeks." Her mother said coming to the door smiling.

Clara nodded. _Okay Clara, you are doing this for your mom. Two more weeks and then you will be at Beacon._

 **A/N: Hello! This is Em here, I had a lot of fun creating Clara and trying to reflect myself in her. I'm sooooo happy with the way that it turned out. I tried to show her problems a little bit to show that she is just a person and isn't perfect. I really hope that y'all enjoyed this chapter and are excited for the next one! Hmm I wonder what will happen when she gets to Beacon...stay tuned for the next episode. *commercial wink* ANYWAYS hope y'all enjoyed! See you next time! ByYeE"**


	4. Chapter 4: Kiara

**A/N: *Busts down club door* Guess who's back!**

 **Congratulations to anyone that understood that quote! Anyway, this is the last of the four characters before we get into some real action! We hope you enjoy.**

 **Happy reading!**

Kiara's dream was horrible that night. In her dream, her dad was getting killed. She heard his screams, but she didn't see who was doing it. Crying, her mom carried her away from their home village. Running into the woods nearby, they hid for hours, waiting until the village was deserted. When they eventually came out, everything was torn apart. Buildings lay in crumbled heaps. Unmoving bodies lay on the rocky ground. And lying in the ashes… the remains of a human skull. Terrified, Kiara opened her mouth to scream-

"Kiara? Kiara!"

She blinked, and sat up in bed. "M-muum?"

"Wake up, sleepyhead, it's already eight-thirty in the morning! Your breakfast is on the table." Sarah, Kiara's mom, yelled from the kitchen.

Kiara Sapphire wasn't a fancy girl, like those that dressed up and put on makeup. She had strong blue eyes, and wavy blonde hair, with natural brown highlights, that cascaded half-way down her back.

She was twelve now. Her dad had died when she was six. She was told that he had died in a burning building in the village fire that happened all those years ago. After the people extinguished the fire, they said they couldn't find his body. That the powerful fire dust had disintegrated.

She shivered at the thought. It had taken her a while, but she had gotten used to the nightmares she was subjected to each night.

Kiara had been alone with her mother ever since. They lived in a small cottage at the edge of a small town called Aruam. It had a few more homes, a small pond, a library, and a very small food market. It wasn't exactly a bustling city. However, this was exactly what Kiara's mother was hoping for. She avoided big crowds, and, as such, Aruam was perfect. Some might call her paranoid. Kiara called her acceptably cautious. And she was especially glad that there weren't many people around to talk to.

Kiara dressed in her spaghetti strapped blue dress that came down to her knees, a silver leather jacket, black leggings, and black ankle boots. She put on a black headband and small pearl earrings that she always wore. She had gotten them from her dad before he had died. Kiara always wore them to never forget him and how much he had loved her-and how much she loved him.

After she dressed she went to the table for breakfast- her mom's slightly over-boiled egg with some milk and grapes.

After she had finished eating, she went out into the makeshift training yard behind her house.

Ever since her horrific past, Kiara couldn't think of anything else besides becoming a huntress. The fact that after her father had died, her childhood burned before her very eyes, was her drive. She wasn't going to let a single person on the face of Remnant go through what she had gone through.

Her mom had started teaching her some fighting moves and techniques that most anyone who lived in such a desolate place would know, but there was only so much that she could teach. Being a huntress was one of, if not _the_ most dangerous professions, ever. She had to be strong, quick, agile, and exact, while having perfected the technique of wielding multiple kinds of weapons. Not to mention knowledge on how to survive every corner of Remnant, and every kind of the beast the world could throw at her.

Her mom did not approve of this life choice she had apparently made, saying Kiara would "Die the _minute_ you set foot on a battlefield!" But she knew her mom was just worried for her.

Kiara eventually convinced her mother that she had dropped the idea, and was just learning basic self-defense, but in her heart she knew that wasn't the truth. And so she continued to train. She had to start somewhere, after all. She always started training with the basic step: right foot back, left arm front, head up high…

 _3 years later…_

Kiara, who was now fifteen, stood in between the trees of a forest near her house, a small smile of success on her face. It was getting harder to find groups of smaller grimm without attracting the big ones in the forest. But right now, she was surrounded by some small griffons.

Griffons were a type of grimm that looked like horse-birds. They had the bodies of horses the faces and wings of a bird, and clawed tails and feet. And, like all grimm, they were black with white armor, and beastly looking.

Kiara, still determined to become a huntress and defend the innocent, had very cleverly goaded her mother into getting her a moderately expensive crafted weapon for her fourteenth birthday. SkyBurst, her silver rapier sword that could transform into a sniper rifle, was the best thing she had ever received in her life. She had been training with it for a little over a year now and, she had to say, she was much more swift and precise with a weapon in her hands.

The griffons that were circling around Kiara on the ground snapped their beaks and screeched at her, as if daring her to make the first move. She accepted their dare.

She lunged forward and sliced through the neck of one of them before it had time to react. It almost immediately vanished into a cloud of black dust. The rest of the grimm scattered out of the way.

Kiara swiftly dove into a shoulder roll and jumped up behind a fleeing griffon, cutting it clean in half. She heard a screech behind her and had just enough time to activate her aura, sending a blue light coursing over her body, before a pair of front claws smashed into her head, throwing her to the ground. Kiara grimaced in pain. Although her aura had taken the brunt of the blow, she knew she'd be feeling that one in the morning.

She had self-trained her aura with a little help from her mother. It felt good to get out and put it to use killing grimm.

Kiara jumped up and continued clearing out the griffons. There were about a dozen, but they were no match for Kiara, who thought of herself as a natural born fighter.

When all the grimm were dead, Kiara sat on a tree stump to catch her breath and straighten her dress, but kept her weapon at the ready. She was about to stand up and return home when she heard a twig snap behind her. Kiara spun around and clicked her sword into its rifle form, aiming at the noise with deadly precision.

"Woah! Hold fire!" Someone called from the shadows. A boy around her age emerged from the trees with his hands raised in a peaceful gesture. He had a gun at his side. "I come in peace." He said. A goofy grin was visible on his face. He had brown hair and pale skin. "I just saw you fighting those grimm and wanted to congratulate you. Nice form."

Kiara immediately shrank back. She didn't know very many people. Heck, she couldn't remember the last time she had had a friendly conversation with someone who wasn't her mother. So when a random stranger- one who was talking like she was his best friend no less- came out of the woods and struck up a conversation, she didn't know how to respond.

She held her rifle a little higher in front of her and tried to steady her breathing.

The boy continued. "I'm Otter. Are you one of the guys that's gonna lead us to Archer's Fort?"

Kiara looked at him, half scared, half confused. Her rifle lowered slightly. "Wh-what?" she asked, almost exasperated. She shifted with uncertainty from one foot to the other. "Who's _us_?"

Just then, another boy jumped through the branches, batting them out of his face. "Is this the person who's gonna bring us to the new camp?" He asked the boy called Otter.

"There you are, Tywan! Yeah, this is the girl, but she doesn't talk much," Otter replied.

Kiara's confusion broke through her shy and cautious nature. "Camp? What camp? Who are you and what do you want?"

"C'mon! Don't play dumb. We're the recruits sent to help with the raiding parties at Archer's Fort. They claim the villagers are getting smarter, but I personally think that they're getting dumber!" The boy snickered.

"Yeah.. they had to.. get rid of some more witnesses. If this keeps progressing, it'll be the village fire incident all over again." The other boy chimed in, but he seems a bit more concerned than Otter. "All those people. Just because of that one guy. What was his name again? Oh yeah, Sapphire."

Kiara's mind whirled and her brow furrowed. _Sapphire? That's my last name. These guys are in some raid group. Did they start the fires in my old village?_

"So.. are you gonna go ahead and take us to the fort? We don't have all day." Otter broke into her train of thought.

Kiara scowled and cocked her gun, aiming it again. "I don't know who you are or where you came from. But you better get out of here now." She seethed.

"Hey! What? What's wrong with you?" Tywan asked her, shocked at the sudden outburst.

"I said get out. _Now_." Kiara took careful aim and shot, her bullet landing on a tree that was three inches from Otter's head. The shot dusted bark into his hair, and he flinched.

"What the heck? C'mon, let's get out of here." The boys quickly dashed further into the woods, tripping all the way.

When they were a good distance off, Kiara lowered her gun and sighed shakily. _They must have been involved with the group that killed my father,_ she thought. _What were they doing here? I should have killed them right then and there!_ She kicked a rock with her foot. It bounced off a tree and skittered across the ground.

Kiara changed her gun back to its original sword form and put it in its holster on her hip. "No, 're not like them." She closed her eyes and sighed, trying to relieve herself of stress. "I'll remember them, though. Otter and Tywan? They won't die without paying the price for my father's death," Kiara promised herself. She quickly turned and headed back home, extra vigilant this time.

 _3 years later..._

Two years later, a now eighteen-year-old, Kiara was was strolling through the woods, listening to the birds chirping and the leaves rustling in the wind. She had always liked being alone and hearing the sounds of the forest. It always calmed her down.

She was thinking of how her mother would react if she _was_ accepted into Beacon Academy to become a huntress.

Beacon was a school in the kingdom of Vale that taught huntsmen-and-huntresses-in-training all that they needed to know to fight and protect the people around them from the monsters of grimm.

She had applied to Beacon and taken the test, much to her mother's dismay, and was now awaiting the reply. She had always dreamed about being accepted. At the school, she could fight for what was right, and protect people,all while meeting new people, making friends, and getting a chance to see the real world. And _that_ was what she was most excited for. She had never had the chance to make many friends. But she wasn't sure whether she would step up to the challenge, or stay in the shadows and remain quiet like she always did.

Kiara stopped. All of the sudden, the woods had become quiet. Too quiet.

That was when she heard it. A sharp, clicking noise. She turned to face a couple of trees and she caught a glimpse of a shadow flash by. Sweat dripped down her forehead as the thing came out from behind the trees, about ten feet away. There were two white creatures. _Wait._ Her blood ran cold as she realized it was just one. A giant scorpion thing, almost twice as tall as she, had materialized. It had white armor covering its body with red swirls on it. It was a deathstalker. A grimm. Its stinger was raised high above its head, ready to strike.

The grimm was crawling closer and closer.

"Concentrate, Kiara!," she muttered to herself.

She took out SkyBurst, and held it firmly with her sweaty hands out in front of her. Her aura activated and blue light surrounded her form.

The grimm took one more step and snapped its tail to strike Kiara.

She put her right foot back and lunged as well. While dodging the stinger, her sword made contact with the un-armored part of the beast's head. It scrambled back in pain, but held its ground.

Kiara dove to the grimm's side, rolling onto her feet and striking one of the monster's many legs.

The deathstalker scuttled sideways, swinging its body around and sending her flying backwards. Kiara closed her eyes, and focused with all her might. She hoped this would work.

Instead of falling to the ground, she changed direction and flew in the air. She opened her eyes and smiled. It worked! She was flying!

About a week ago, she had finally discovered her semblance. She'd had very little time to hone her skills, but she was in fact improving-slowly but surely. She flew past the grimm and went straight upward. She could see out of corner of her eye that the grimm was not happy at all. It was stomping its feet and clicking its pincers together angrily.

Kiara figured she was about a couple hundred feet in the air. She took a deep breath, lifted her sword above her head, and dove straight down. She was speeding through the air, wind slapping at her face. As she came upon the grimm, she struck a mighty blow, straight through its spine armor.

The monster clicked its pincers one last time and disintegrated before her eyes. But, before she could celebrate, four small beowolves were creeping toward her. They had been attracted to the previous fight.

Kiara readjusted StarBurst, and clicked it into its rifle carefully aimed, and shot the two that were the closest to her. They disintegrated almost immediately.

One of the remaining grimm grunted and bared his teeth. He was about lunge for a kill when Kiara jumped and flew over it. The grimm looked up and growled, which ended up being the last thing it did, as Kiara dove and shoved her sword down its throat. Kiara reassembled her sword and shot the last grimm. They were all dead.

She fell to her knees. Her head was pounding and a wave of nausea washed over her. She had never flown that much before. She sat down and leaned against a tree. She felt dizzy, and the earth seemed to spin. Black dots appeared in her vision. She decided to sit and rest for a while.

When the fainting spell seemed to diminish, she decided it was best to go home, away from where the grimm might be. She slowly shoved herself to her feet and started the journey home.

When Kiara got home, she was ready to collapse on the couch when her mom screeched from the kitchen,"You got accepted into Beacon!"

"What?!" Instantly, her fatigue was gone, and she raced into the kitchen.

"I got a letter about thirty minutes before you came. Oh, I'm so proud, you made it in!"Her mom grabbed her into a giant bear hug.

"They accepted me?!" Kiara was truly shocked. "Like, they called me in?!" She never thought she would be good enough.

"Of course they did!" Her mother let go of her, tears falling down her face. "Y-you be safe. Don't get into any trouble. I don't know what I'd do without you!"

Kiara felt many things at that moment. Excitement and happiness, of course. After all, this was all she'd ever dreamed of. But there were other feelings also. Anxiety? Fear of the unknown? Fear of rejection?

Her mother didn't seem to notice though. "We'll have to hike into the town. It's a while away, but we'll need all your new supplies."

Kiara tried not to think about her worries. After all, her dream was coming true! And she would never break out of her shell or become anything in life if she didn't work for it. _Study hard…. Talk to people, she told herself_

She played with her hands nervously. She had heard there were teams at Beacon. What if no one wanted her on their team? What if she was the only one left and they made her go home?

She shook her head to clear her mind. _No,_ she thought. _Things will be fine. This is what you've wanted your whole life!_ She took a deep breath and smiled.

 _Get excited, Kiara! You're going to Beacon._

 **A/N: Hi guys! This is Jay. Unfortunetly Mau couldn't be here to write an A/N for her chapter but she wants me to let you know that she had a LOT of fun writing Kiara and hopes you enjoy. 'Till next time!**


	5. Chapter 5: Arriving at Beacon

**A/N:** _**Hey again, everyone. I manage most of the publishing for our story and since I will be out of town over the weekend, you're getting this chapter two days early. Yay!**_

 _ **Get ready for things start happening. As you can see in the title, we're moving past backstories and into the real story. Let's see how they fare at the one and only Beacon Academy!**_

 _ **-Jay**_

"This place is huge!" River said, open-mouthed. She had just gotten off the ferry that had taken her between the city of Vale and the one and only Beacon Academy.

There were giant buildings in every direction. The new Beacon tower was up again in its full glory, after being destroyed only three years ago. Everyone had been surprised to see the school reopen only a year after the horrific battle that had happened.

River dragged her new suitcase up the path, trying to figure out where she was supposed to go. Suddenly, something slammed into her, and she was knocked to the ground.

She wriggled out from under her suitcase and jumped to her feet. "Hey! What's the big idea?!"

A very frightened-looking, blonde-haired girl was looking back at her. "I'm, um, I'm really sorry! I-I tripped and, uh, fell."

"Well, next time watch where you're going." River scowled.

"I-I'm sorry". The girl apologized again.

River sighed, she mentally kicked herself; she had never been nice to strangers since she ran away, because she was always scared that they would report her to her parents, or arrest her for being a thief. And now? Her amnesia was making it very difficult to remember if she'd seen someone before, and if she needed to fear them. "It's fine. I'm River. What's your name?"

"I'm Kiara, uh, nice to meet you."

"Kiara...that's a pretty name." River tried to make up for yelling at the poor girl, who was obviously less than comfortable.

"Um, thanks. Do you, uh, know, like, where-"

"We're supposed to be going?" River finished.

Kiara blushed. "Y-yeah."

"I actually have no idea. Why don't we just follow the crowd?" She suggested.

"Yeah, uh, let's do that." Kiara looked grateful to her for taking charge.

River picked her suitcase up off the ground. Kiara awkwardly followed suit, picking her trunk up and wiping the dust off of it.

"So, where are you from?" Asked River, as they walked.

"I lived some way off the city of Aruam. B-but I guess Beacon will be our home now. Right? Uh... where are _you_ from?"

River was taken aback by the question. " I...um, well... nowhere... So, uh Beacon tower looks cool!"

Kiara seemed very confused."Yeah. I-it is nice." She glanced at River, as if trying to figure her out.

 _That was close_ , thought River. _What_ am _I supposed to tell people when they ask about my past?_ She decided to forget about it for now. "Well, let's keep moving. We've got some long days ahead of us."

"Right."

Together they continued up the path, wondering what would happen next.

R...E...C...K

Ember stepped off of the giant ship that had brought her to Beacon. She still couldn't believe it. She was at _the_ Beacon! "Look! There's the tower. Its so big!"

Hank, who had come to drop her off, laughed. "Yep. It's a bit different than I remember, though. I guess they made a few modifications when they built the new one." He smiled, clearly thinking about how adorable it was, how excited the faunus girl was getting.

"Okay, Kit." He put down her trunk, which he had been carrying. He had been extremely generous and had supplied her with everything she might need for school, despite her insistence not to spend his money on her."You need to make your way to the main hall. That's where the headmaster will introduce himself and tell you what's happening."

"Right," Ember said, excited. "Where's the main hall?"

Hank pointed to a stand on the side of the path. "It looks like there are maps there for the newcomers."

Ember ran over, grabbed one from the stack, and unfolded it. It was almost as long as she was tall."Woah! How big _is_ this school? Well, at least you can show me the way."

Hank frowned. "Actually, Ember, I can't take you the rest of the way. Visitors aren't allowed on campus on the first day."

"What? Why not?" Ember pouted.

"Sorry. Campus rules, Kit." Hank shrugged regretfully.. "I guess this is goodbye for now. But I know you're going to do great! I can't wait to hear all the stories of adventures you'll go on. You're going to make me so proud!" Hank said, smiling.

Ember ran up and hugged Hank tight. "I'm gonna miss you."

Hank wrapped his arms around the small girl. "I'll miss you too, Kit." He released her. "Go show 'em what you're made of!"

"I will!" Ember grabbed the handle of her trunk. She laughed and started running up the path, map in hand, dragging her trunk behind her. "Bye, Hank!"

Hank smiled and waved.

When Ember couldn't see the docks anymore, she slowed and turned her attention back to the confusing map. A jumble of nonsensical colors greeted her. "Okay." she mumbled. "I'm right...there? Where's the main-" A big gust of wind blew the map from her hands.

"Hey! Get back here!" She took off after it, jumping into the air and trying to catch it. "Oof!" Something collided with her, knocking her to the ground.

"Woah! Sorry there, miss..."

Ember sat up and groaned. She accepted the masculine hand that was reaching for her own. "Umm, Ember."

"Cool name." The guy said. "I'm Finn. Finn Yuko." He pulled her to her feet with ease.

Finn had a tall and sturdy frame, and very muscular arms. His eyes were blue, and his hair white with black stripes. He was wearing a black sleeveless, unbuttoned cargo jacket over a red t-shirt, dark gray pants, and black shoes.

"Hey, you're a Duo-faunus!" he remarked, referring to her two faunus traits.

Ember glared at him. "Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Easy there!" He held his hands up defensively "I'm a Duo-faunus too."

Ember looked again, and saw what looked like the tail of a white tiger swishing behind him.

"Where's your second trait?" She asked.

Finn laughed. "My hair," he answered.

She looked at his hair. It _was_ white with black stripes...

"Most people think it's dyed." Finn told her.

"Hey, dude. How'd you get your hair to look like that?" a random guy called from the crowd.

"See. My point is proven." He folded his arms and smiled.

He looked at her for a while. When he didn't say anything, Ember got uncomfortable under his gaze.

She blushed. "What?"

The boy realized he was staring and and fumbled nervously. "I-uh well... you, um... have nice hair." he mumbled.

Ember raised an eyebrow. "Thanks?..."

"I mean- That's not what I meant! No! I mean you, _are_ pretty. I'm not saying you're not. I just meant that, in a way like, I don't- I. I'm gonna stop talking now."

Finn was standing stiff, red up to his ears, and looking completely mortified.

Ember had to stifle a giggle. This guy was being absolutely...adorable. Yup. She was pretty sure that was the word to describe it. _Adorable_.

"It's fine." She told him. "Wait, where'd my map go?" She looked around, but the only thing that would've kept her from getting hopelessly lost on the school's grounds was seemingly lost.

"I'm sorry!" Finn apologized. "It's my fault it's lost."

Ember girl frowned, but waved a hand at him."It's okay. We're not the only new students today. Let's just find someone who looks like they know where they're going."

Finn smiled again, trying to recover. "Right. To Beacon!"

R...E...C...K

Clara glanced at the person seated next to her on the ship to Beacon. The ship was cramped, and she felt that someone would try to jump her at any moment. She kept her hands pressed to her sides to prevent pickpockets, and her eyes darted back and forth between the people around her.

" _Attention passengers. We are approaching Beacon Academy. Please account for any luggage and make sure you are seated or holding a safety handle. Thank you,"_ A voice announced over the loudspeaker

As the airship descended, everyone did exactly the opposite of what they were told. They stood up and looked out the window.

"Woah." Clara gasped at the sight before her. The school looked amazing from up in the ship. Buildings sprawled out as far as she could see, bright and gorgeous. She could see people bustling around like ants in an anthill, and her eyes widened in awe.

As soon as the ship landed, all of the kids stampeded off. Clara stuck to the back of the crowd where there were fewer people. She got off the ship and looked around.

 _Great._ She thought sarcastically. _Just great._ The place was huge. There was no way she could find her way without speaking to someone.

She sighed. _If I'm going to be stuck here for the next four years, I might as well make friends._

She looked around to see if she could hear anyone talking. As she looked around, she noticed that everyone already seemed to be in a small groups of friends.

"This is just great.." She muttered.

Clara followed the crowd down the pathway towards the main building. Almost halfway down the path she realized that she had left her luggage in the airship. She quickly turned and ran back, hoping that it hadn't left yet.

"Whose bags are these?" A woman was asking, pointing to two large bags that had been taken off of the airship that had just left.

Clara ran forward, "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I forgot my luggage on my way out! Thank you so much for not letting them drive off with-"

The woman cut her off. "No matter. Just take your luggage and get into the main building please."

Embarrassed, Clara grabbed her bags and sped towards the building.

 _Well,_ that _went well,_ she thought to herself.

R...E...C...K

Kiara looked around. She and River had found their way to the orientation room, a large, crowded hall, lined with chairs, with a large stage at the opposite end. No sooner had they found their way into the room and placed their luggage on a luggage cart than a man came out on stage, and the bustle of the crowd quieted..

Beside Kiara, River whispered, "Qrow? What is he- Oh right, he's headmaster here now..."

Kiara frowned. Everyone knew that Qrow was headmaster at Beacon Academy. He had been in that position for a few years now.

"Umm, yeah... why wouldn't Qrow be headmaster? I-I mean, he's had the position for almost three years now. Ever since the war." She said, very confused. _What is_ with _this new girl? Doesn't she know anything?_

River stared at Kiara, "W-war? What war?" The moment it came out of her mouth, she looked as though she regretted saying it.

Kiara looked at her, puzzled. "Y-you don't know about the war?"

The girl looked away for a second and then looked back at Kiara, her eyes dead serious. "I will tell you later, I- I promise. Okay?"

Before Kiara could say anything, the headmaster began to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Human and faunus. Welcome to Beacon Academy for Huntresses and Huntsmen!" Announced Qrow.

Loud cheering and clapping filled the main room.

"Now, I trust that all the newbies made it here. Don't worry, you'll find your way around. It only took me until my senior year."

Everyone laughed and cheered.

"Anyway, back to the point now. To our old students, welcome back! To our new students, the girls will be staying in the ballroom tonight-you'll find it using your incredibly useful maps-and the guys will be staying in here. In past years we have had both in one room, but this year we're trying something the parents asked for, something called _avoiding temptation_. I'm just glad that _I_ was around when we were put together. Gave me a chance to scope out the ladies, if you know what I mean." He winked at the crowd good-naturedly.

Everyone laughed.

"Tomorrow, you'll need to be up bright and early for initiation. It is there that you will meet your teammates for the next four years. Any questions? Actually, who am I kidding. I wouldn't answer them anyway. Now off to bed, pipsqueaks!"

Everyone started to clear the room, the exception being the first-year boys.

"Wow. He was...something." River said to Kiara.

"Y-yeah. Really. Weird. Umm, where is our stuff? The luggage carts are all gone." Kiara pointed to where they had dropped off their luggage before.

"They probably brought it to the ballroom." River answered. "Wherever that is. Let's go find it. And quick. I'm exhausted."

The two girls joined the crowd that was heading off to the ballroom, unsure of what to expect next.

 **A/N:** _Well there you have it folks! I voted to call this chapter "Why does everyone slam into each other on the first day of Beacon?" but sadly it was rejected._

 _Now everyone is off to bed-y bye. How will the initiations go tommorow? hmm..._

 _-Em_


	6. Chapter 6: The Initiation Pt 1

**A/N: Hi guys, it's initiation time!**

 **Well there's not much more to say besides we hope you like it and happy reading!**

 **-Jay, Ren, Em, and Mau.**

Clara finally came back from the bathroom in the ballroom. There had been a very long line and she had waited near the end, not wanting to get in the middle of a bunch of hyper found a corner in the room and set up her blankets and pillows. Everyone was talking and laughing excitedly. _Well, they wanted to be here._ She thought bitterly. She promised herself to make an effort to meet someone tomorrow. After all, she would have to be on a team and she didn't want just any dolts as teammates.

"Heythere!Canwesleephere?Thanks!"

Clara turned around. Two girls had dropped their stuff right next to Clara's makeshift bed.

One of them had dark red hair ( _clearly dyed,_ Clara thought) that was parted on one side and fell just past her chin. She had a baggy purple shirt, black pajama shorts and an aura of unconcerned calm. The other seemed to be the polar opposite of the first one; while the first girl was all dark, she was all light. Her blonde hair didn't hide her bright blue eyes at all, and her pink pajamas seemed almost too bright for the room. Clara assumed she had been the one to speak.

"There's no room anywhere else." The red-head informed her, unrolling her sleeping bad and dropping down into it.. "I'm Roxanna. And this is-"

"I'm Lola!" The other girl threw her hands in the air excitedly. "But you can call me whatever you want. I sometimes feel like an Olivia. Or maybe a Jennifer. No wait, don't call me Jennifer. My grandma's aunt is named Jennifer. Or was it Mary? No, I'm pretty sure it was Jennifer."

"That's great," Roxanna interrupted. "Now, shut up so we can sleep."

"I'm Clara." Clara told them. _Well, I can't exactly tell them to go away._ She thought. And besides, Roxanna looked like she could be solid teammate material. Lola, on the other hand...

"I'm too excited to sleep! I wonder what we'll have to face tomorrow. I just hope I get a chance to do my hair before the initiations. It's a mess!"

"Ugh. Lo, you _just_ brushed your hair. In the bathroom. For _ten minutes_. Remember?!" Roxanna face-palmed.

"Oh. Right. Well, it'll get messed up by tomorrow." Lola crawled into her lilac sleeping bag and pulled a pink sleeping mask over eyes. "G'night!"

Roxanna rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I'm whooped. 'Night."

Clara sat there for a moment, perplexed. These random girls had showed up out of nowhere and were now laying beside her like they'd known each other for years. She shook her head and slid under her blanket. _People are so weird_.

R…..E….….C….….K

Kiara squinted and blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the light.

"Wake up!" Someone told her. "We need to get ready for initiations." River was standing above her smiling, with a pillow in her hands. "Don't make me use this!"

Kiara sat up and put her arms defensively in front of her. "You seem chipper this morning."

"What's that supposed to mean?" River said with a confused frown. Shaking her head, she grinned, "Well, I mean, who isn't? We're gonna figure out who's on our team. That's pretty exciting!"

Kiara frowned "Yeah, I guess." She stood up and grabbed her clean set of clothes.

"What's wrong?" River asked as they made their way to the bathroom.

"N-nothing. I just... I don't know anybody and…" Kiara trailed off.

"Hey! You know me. Don't I count as someone?"

"Yeah, of course! I just mean-"

' _Attention! All first year students please make your way to the Forever Fall Forest for initiation. Professor Gray will show you the way. Thank you.'_ A voice came over a loudspeaker, thankfully interrupting her attempt to justify her feelings.

River sighed with annoyance. "Well I guess we aren't going to be able to get dressed for the day."

Kiara looked at River, who had slept in the same clothes that she had come in. An auburn halter crop top and black pants. "What do you mean? You look like you're already ready."

"I was planning to get into something less messed up. But now that I found out that we are going to a forest I don't think it's a good idea to," River said, as they changed courses to go towards the front of the building. At the front, there was an older woman waiting for them, with a very grouchy-looking face.

"Hurry up! We don't have all day! We need to get these initiations done so that you can move into your dorms." The woman didn't speak so much as barked. When everyone had had gathered around, she turned abruptly and started walking in the direction of some bright red woods.

"Well, here we go!" River said, as she and Kiara followed the professor, ready to take on whatever Qrow threw at them.

R…..E….….C….….K

Ember followed the professor into the bright red woods. She had heard about the woods before. The forever fall forest stayed in the season of fall all year round, keeping its leaves the same color forever.

The professor was explaining to them that they might encounter grimm and other creatures, when someone put their hands over Ember's eyes from behind.

"Guess who?" Said the voice of her captor.

She smiled. "Someone who's super annoying." She grabbed his arm and twisted it, unraveling herself from his grasp.

"Ow! Hey, that hurt." Finn was standing there, rubbing his wrist.

Ember grinned. "Good. It should have."

"Um. Hi." Ember turned towards the voice that had just spoken. A tall boy with dark skin, brown eyes, and thin rectangular glasses was standing there.

"Oh," Said Finn. "Ember, this is Yatsohide. I met him in the main hall last night."

"Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you." Yatsohide greeted. _Okay… a little nerdy…._ He was wearing silver chest armor over a yellow shirt. He had gray cargo shorts and white sneakers. His weapon looked to be an axe, which was put away behind his back.

"Umm...Hey." Ember responded.

"I have heard that there are many grimm in this forest we are visiting. Specifically,

 _BeoCanis iupis,_ or as they are more commonly known as, beowulves. They are known for their sharp teeth and claws. They're weak points are located on the snout and under belly. They are known to live in packs and-"

"Okay Yatso, She doesn't want to hear you blab facts all day." Finn interrupted. "Let's hurry up, we're falling behind!" Finn took off a little faster. Ember looked at Yatsohide for a moment, grinned, and took off behind him.

R…..E…..C…..K

River and Kiara followed the professor into the forest. Pretty soon the group arrived at the edge of a lake. Professor Gray turned around to face the group as a crow flew down from a tree and landed next to her, before transforming into the headmaster of the school.

"Does everyone see the island over there?" Qrow asked the group, pointing to a small, overgrown island in the middle of the lake blow the cliff they were standing on. There was a chorus of "Yes."

"On that island is a small clearing. Get to the clearing, grab one of the relics, and bring it back here. Oh, and I almost forgot. After you reach the surface, the first person that you see is your partner for the rest of your time at Beacon. Got it? Good. Any questions?" Qrow said, taking his canteen out of his pocket.

"Wait, the surface?" River asked. "The surface of what?"

"Yup! See you later! That is, if you survive and all." Qrow told them, taking a swig from his canteen. At that moment, the ground dropped out from beneath everyone.

The next thing River knew, she was underwater. The ground had fallen out from beneath her and she had fallen into a shoot that landed her at the bottom of the lake. She immediately started kicking upwards (Or at least what she _hoped_ was up).

 _So this is what the little drunk meant when he said surface. Great! Just great!_ She thought to herself. She was about ten feet from the surface when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned so see…. _You have got to be kidding me! Grimm dolphins!?_

River kicked faster and her head finally broke the surface. As she choked and gasped for air, she fumbled to get her knife pouch open, grabbing several of her knives, but,. surprisingly, the grimm swam right under her without taking notice.

When the dolphins were out of sight, River tread water and looked around to see if anyone was nearby. It was hard to see anything through the thick fog enveloping the lake. She managed to make out a small figure a couple yards away. "Hello!" She called out, "is anyone there?"

The figure turned. After a few seconds, it waved.

"Hello!" A girl's voice said. The person started to swim towards her. After a moment, when she was only a few feet away, she said, "I was starting to think I wouldn't find anyone."

River smiled and nodded, "Same. My name is River. And I think we should get to the island before we freeze to death in this water." Her teeth had started chattering as she said it.

"Yeah, I-I'm Clara." The girl said. She stopped by River and began to tread water. Her lips looked a little blue from the cold water.

"Cool, the island is in that direction." She pointed behind Clara's head. "We should hurry up, because I think I saw grimm in this lake." She was starting to lose feeling in her body due to the icy water.

"Yeah. I mean, why would Qrow send us anywhere that _didn't_ have Grimm?" Clara said, rolling her eyes as they swam towards the island.

Unfortunately, that made River laugh. She choked and gagged on the water. "Please, don't make me laugh while we are in this damned lake."

Clara chuckled and then gasped, "Umm, something just touched my leg!" She exclaimed frantically.

River looked down into the water. "G-get your weapon. I think we have a few grimm to handle. And there are probably more coming."

"Right. Let's go." Clara said as she took her longsword out from behind her back. "Time to fight some grimm."

R…..E…..C…..K

Kiara came up to the surface of the lake, coughing up dirty water. She was freezing! Why did this lake have to be near the Forever _Fall_ Forest. Why couldn't it be the Forever _Summer_ Forest. Then she remembered what Qrow said. ' _The first person you see will be your partner for the rest of your time at Beacon.'_

Oh no. She hoped she could find River. Or someone nice.

"Hello!?" She heard a voice from behind her. "Finn? Finn, where are you!?"

"Hello?" she called back "W-who's there?"

A girl with auburn hair and fox ears swam up to her. "I-I'm Ember, and-Gods, this water is _freezing!_ "

"Y-yeah. I'm Kiara." Okay. This girl didn't seem bad. But were they _really_ partners? Qrow sure did have a weird way of working. How could he tell who had seen who first? What if three people found each other at the same time?

Ember broke Kiara's train of thought: "So, um.. I guess we have to find a relic thingy? Let's get out of this stupid la-"

A gigantic dolphin grimm jumped right over their heads.

"Holy crap, that thing is huge." Ember whipped out her staff, struggling to stay above the surface in the ripples it had caused. "I'm not a very good swimmer. My tail weighs me down."

"Tail?" Kiara couldn't see a tail through the murky lake water, but it must have been there. She hadn't seen many faunus before. But although she didn't mean to be rude, she thought they were a little weird.

"Yeah, can we try to avoid a fight until we get to the island?"

"O-of course." They swam towards the island quickly, so as to avoid any water grimm.

Unfortunately, the grimm had other plans. It took off after the pair.

"Hurry! They're after us!" The two swam as fast as they could for the island, but the grimm was faster. It caught up to Ember and jumped into the air, about to bite down on her.

She shoved her staff between the dolphin grimm's jaws and extended it as far as it would go. The shark's jaw broke, and its mouth was left hanging open, unable to close. It roared in pain and dissipated into a cloud of smoke.

"Let's hurry, my legs are killing me!" Ember told Kiara.

Suddenly, they heard yelling from further along the side of the island.

"Someone else is over there," Kiara yelled

"Let's go help them." They swam the rest of the way to the bank and climbed onto it. They ran along the island until they spotted two girls in the water.

Kiara gasped. "That's River!"

River and Clara were in the water, battling what seemed to be a giant water snake. River looked up to see Kiara and Ember standing on the shore. "Don't just stand there! Help!" She threw one of her knives into the side of the snake.

Kiara and Ember snapped into action. They pulled their weapons back out and jumped into the water.

Clara struck a blow at the beast's scaly stomach. It hissed and thrashed its tail around, knocking her out of the water and onto the island where she fell to the ground.

Kiara gathered her strength and plunged her saber into the snake's side.

"Where's its head?" Shouted Ember. She was spinning her staff's blade into the grimm's side whenever she saw the chance. "If we can get its head we can kill it." She choked on the lake water that made it into her mouth.

River thought hard. "Guys, if we can get to the island we'll have the upper hand. It'll have to bring its head up too."

Everyone scrambled onto the island. They all bent over and caught their breath. But they stood their ground again when the head of the hideous beast rose from the water, in search of its potential prey.

It hissed, forked tongue smelling the air. Then it lunged down upon the group.

They rolled out of the way and quickly regained their stances. The snake was now wrapping its seemingly everlasting body around the group.

"It's trying to strangle us!" Warned Clara.

"Then let's kill it first!" Ember yelled."We need to get over its body to its head."

"We can't get past the body. It's too thick!" A very frustrated River growled.

"I can get over it," Kiara said quietly, staring at the ground.

"What?"

She spoke louder. "I-I can get over the body. My semblance is flight."

Their jaws dropped. "That's _so_ cool!" River exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kiara shrugged. "Never came up."

They were brought back to reality when the snake's body tightened around them.

"Hurry up and go!" Clara shouted.

"R-right. Sorry." Kiara closed her eyes and focused. She rose ten feet into the air and opened her eyes again. When she located the head of the snake, she flew up forty more feet, and dove back down. She was flying so fast that the world blurred past her.

The grimm turned its head to face her, but it was too late. Kiara skewered the snake's head. It disintegrated into the air, leaving the quartet alone in the eerie silence and mist of the island.

"Well..." Clara panted. "That was fun."

"Let's keep moving," River suggested. "We need to find those relics, and the sooner we get out of here the better."

Ember put her hands on her knees and caught her breath. "Agreed."

They all stood up and followed River through a patch of trees, not knowing what was waiting for them on the other side.

 **A/N: Hi ya'll, it's Ren here. I hoped you like that chapter. We just wanted to remind you that constructed criticism is welcome and greatly appreciated. I hope you have a fantastic day. See ya next week!**


	7. Chapter 7: The Initiation Part 2

**A/N: Hey guys, We're SOO Sorry this chapter was late! Jay usually posts the chapters but she was on a retreat this weekend. Also, I know this chapter is a little short but we'll make up for it with the next one. Anyway, happy Reading!**

 **-Mau**

"Hey, that was my foot!" Ember exclaimed.

"Sorry, there are so many bushes! I can't see where I'm stepping," Clara apologized. The island was packed with plants, trees, and a ridiculous number of bushes. As they walked they could hear distant growls and roars of far-off grimm.

Ember sighed. "I know. It's okay."

"So, Ember, what's your semblance?" asked River curiously.

"Oh, um, invisibility."

River nodded and smiled. "Cool. I can bend shadows."

"Nice." Ember said, making the 'OK' sign with her hand, and grinning

"What about you, Clara?" Kiara piped up. Everyone looked at Kiara. It had been the first time she had spoken in a while.

Clara chopped off a low-hanging branch that had been in the way. "I...I don't know what my semblance is," she admitted.

The others looked at each other. It was uncommon to not have discovered your semblance by their age in the line of fighting. To "unlock" your semblance you have to have mastered control over you aura (which they knew Clara had done, since they had seen her using it), and you have to have experienced a strong motive or reason to use your semblance. Semblance was a spiritual as well as emotional reaction. That meant that Clara must not have had a real need or urge to use her semblance.

"Oh... well, you'll probably find it soon," River said. "We'll be fighting a lot of grimm from now on."

There was an awkward silence for a while. It was broken by the sound of a growl.

They turned around and were met by a large beowolf. They quickly drew their weapons. Just as they were gearing up for an attack, however, it vanished in a puff. Two girls were standing in its place.

Clara recognized them as Roxanna and Lola from the ballroom last night. Their weapons were drawn.

"Oh hey there, Clara! How's it going?" asked Lola.

"Oh, hey. Thanks for that," responded Ember awkwardly.

"Who're you?" asked River suspiciously.

Lola was wearing a light blue jean jacket over a pink t-shirt. She was also wearing short white shorts and silver, heeled ankle boots. She was carrying two silver blades that curved inwards. Her honey-blonde hair was up in a high ponytail and her bangs curved towards the right side of her face.

The other gir, Roxanna, was wearing a black leather jacket over a red shirt. She had on black leggings and black boots that had lots of buckles and zippers on them. She wore black eye-liner. She was also carrying a long katana.

The girl in the black jacket was the first to talk. "I'm Roxanna and this is Lola. And you are?"

"I'm River," River answered. "And this-" here she pointed to Ember, "-is Ember." She pointed to Kiara.

"I'm Kiara."

"And it looks like you've already met Clara so..." River trailed off.

More awkward silence.

Suddenly, they heard yelling. Two boys burst through the trees

"Finn!" Exclaimed Ember happily. "Where were you?"

"No time to talk!" The boy replied.

"Two alpha beowolves are after us!" Yatsohide explained hurriedly.

Sure enough, two grimm could be heard stomping through the woods behind them.

"Time to kick some butt." Clara gripped her weapon tighter.

"Wait," Yatsohide warned. "This plan is not at all callulated! We need a carefully planned strategy-"

"Too late!" Ember yelled as the wolves came crashing through the trees. The group scattered.

"Ember, Kiara, Finn and goth girl get the one on the left," River called to them.

Before River could give any more directions, Roxanna yelled, "GOTH GIRL!? DID YOU JUST CALL ME GOTH GIRL!?"

River rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry. I _am_ bad at remembering things..."

Roxanna glared at her, "Oh yeah right, I bet you'll forget your whole life by the time you're twenty."

River wanted to hit Roxanna for that. _Don't waste your energy, River. Besides she doesn't know about your secret, so she didn't mean it to be offensive. At least not that way._ Instead of ripping out Roxanna's hair, River called out, "Whatever, you four get the one on the left. Clara, Lola, Yatsohide and I will get the one on the right!"

As she yelled this, one of the beowolves charged at her and her friends. Lola jumped out of the way and cut the grimm on its front leg with one of her curved blades. River threw three of her knives into its body. Clara ran out of the way of the raging beast and stood next to Lola. Yatsohide...got into a tree.

The second ursa moved towards the others. "Kiara, use your semblance and get near its head and distract it. Ember, activate your invisibility and get behind it. Finn, just stay by me." Roxanna directed those around her, completely in leadership mode.

"How do you know what our semblances are?" Ember asked her, confused.

Roxanna rolled her eyes "My semblance is super hearing. Now _get going_!" She yelled the last part at her.

Ember quickly disappeared and Kiara flew into the air.

"Lola, what's your semblance?" River asked, jumping out of the way of the grimm's clawed paw.

"Well, _I_ can freeze moving objects for like, fifteen seconds. Or more like twelve seconds. Actually, I think it's thirteen-"

"Okay, enough! So you can freeze things that are in motion? How big can the thing be?"

"Uh, well not an entire beowolf, if that's what you're thinking, but like, I should _totally_ keep training until I can do that. That would be so cool! Maybe I could freeze an airplane! But then it might fall, and crash, and-"

"How big!?" River snapped.

"The biggest thing I've frozen was our kitchen table. Don't ask." Lola ducked out of the way of the beowulf's tail.

"Okay. How about freezing this grimm'slegs?"

"Okay. Cover me." Lola raised her hands toward the wolf, which had just noticed her and was running towards her, and closed her eyes in concentration.

The wolf's front legs froze in the middle of its charge. It whined and fell to the ground.

"Awesome! Your semblance is great." River cheered.

"Yeah, but only when others are around. Hurry up and kill it, I can't hold this forever!" Lola was sweating with the effort of keeping her concentration.

"I got it!" Clara called.

"No, I got it." River called back.

They both rushed forward. Clara raised her sword to strike the grimm, but faltered when one of River's blades flew past her head. Her would-be fatal blow landed off center on the grimm's shoulder.

"You people are impossibly uncoordinated!" Yatsohide yelled from his perch in the tree. He jumped down and cut the neck of the beowolf clean in two. Immediately, it dissolved, along with the rest of the body.

The others were still fighting the second beowolf.

Ember had cut one of its hind legs off, which served only to make it angrier. It was hobbling forward and snapping its jaws at Roxanna. She was about to have a hack at it with her katana when she tripped backwards over a root.

Finn saw this and rushed forward. But instead of using his short Tanto swords, he put them away.

"What're you doing?!" Screamed Ember.

He reached out his arms, grabbed the grimm and...picked it up into the air?

"Semblance...Super strength," Finn grunted. He held onto to one of the wolf's legs and started spinning around, faster and faster. When he let go, the beowolf went flying into a large bush of giant thorns, where it lay still. Finally dead.

Everyone cheered.

"Well, that was nice. Nothing like a good fight to get your adrenaline pumping." Finn rubbed his muscular arms.

"Good job, Finn." Yatsohide nodded, panting. . "That was a well-placed attack."

Finn laughed, "Thanks, Yatso. Not so bad yourself."

"What about us?!" River scowled.

"Oh, well...I suppose you did well too," Yatsohide responded.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Clara exclaimed

"Ugh, whatever. Let's hurry up and find these dumb relics." Roxanna rolled her eyes.

"Who elected _you_ queen of the group?" River glared at her.

Roxanna glared back. "No one. The headmaster told us to find the relics, dunce."

"Okay, okay. Just chill, guys!" Ember spread her arms out between the two girls.

"I found it!" Lola burst through a patch of bushes.

"Found what?" questioned Kiara.

"Wait, when did you leave?" Clara asked.

Lola grinned. "The relics!"

"Really? Where?" Finn jumped to attention.

"They're just past these bushes, and through this little path. Oh, wait, no. I wouldn't really call it a path, more like some of the grass and bushes were flattened. Well actually, I was the one who flattened them so-"

"Just take us there, Lo!" A very exasperated Roxanna face-palmed.

"Rrrright! Sure thing, Roxy!"

"Don't call me Roxy." Roxanna dead-panned.

The group followed Lola (through what definitely _wasn't_ a path) to a small clearing. When they got into the clearing, they saw a ring of tree stumps that went around a shortcut patch of grass. On each of the stumps were small statue figures of animals in groups of four.

"Wait. Are these the relics?" Asked Clara

"Well, Qrow _did_ say that they were in a clearing," Kiara mumbled shyly.

"Well...I guess. But which ones should we choose?" Asked Finn.

"Get a crow. You know, to get on the headmaster's good side and all." Roxanna suggested.

Ember looked around. "There are no crows."

"Dang. Maybe someone else thought of it first." Roxanna frowned.

"Let's get the cute chipmunks!" Lola pointed to one of the stumps.

"I think we should choose the turkeys." Yatsohide adjusted his glasses. "They are extremely intelligent and very majestic creatures."

"Ew, no. You're a turkey," Roxanna said.

"What do you think about the red pandas?" Ember picked up one of the figurines and showed it to the group.

"Sure. Red pandas are adorable." River agreed

"Whatever. Let's just go." Clara crossed her arms.

"Kiara?" Ember turned to Kiara.

"W-what? Oh. Uh, sure." Kiara blinked.

"Okay. It's settled then." The fox faunus handed them each a little red panda statue.

"Just grab the bald eagles," Roxanna instructed.

"Sure. Bald eagles are cool." Finn swiped the lot and handed them out.

"Okay. Now back to Qrow. Before another grimm tries to kill us." Clara said.

"Yaaay! Back to Qrow!" Lola cheered.

They started to make their way through the path they had come from. And back to the school.

 **A/N: Hey guys! So we wanted to write some RWBY short stories but we needed inspiration, so we'd like to ask you all for some prompt suggestions! If you want, please message us with two names from RWBY and one word. For example: Weiss, Yang, and Hair. Or Blake, Weiss, and Tea. Credit for this AMAZING idea goes to:**

 **LilyTheNinjaGirlwho has done Miraculous Ladybug prompts like this in the past.**

 **If you like Miraculous Ladybug or Fantastic beasts, you should definitely go check her out.**

 **See you guys in the next chapter byeeeeee.**

 **-Jay**


	8. Chapter 8: The Dorms

**A/N: Ya so I kind of have absolutely no idea what to say so...Hi? Ya, and uh, happy reading.**

 **-Ren**

Clara, Ember, River, Kiara, and their other friends were standing in the main hall once more, waiting for their names to be called. The teams were being assigned and everyone was extremely anxious.

 _Please let me be on the same team as Finn,_ Ember was silently praying, unaware she was mouthing her words. She hadn't known Finn for long, but she felt a special connection between the two of them. Finn was a great guy, and she felt that they would make a great team.

"And the collectors of the bald eagle statues are Roxanna Rauj, Yatsohide Shero, Finn Yuko, and Lola Bonne." Qrow called.

Ember's heart sank when she didn't hear her name beside Finn's. Oh, well. They would probably take some classes together, at least.

"They will make 'Team RYF(a)L'. Led by Roxanna Rauj."

Meanwhile, Clara was thinking about the loss of Roxanna as a teammate. She felt that Roxanna would understand her, and appreciated that the redhead didn't like to waste time. She couldn't think of anyone else she would rather team with, besides maybe River.

After the other team stepped to the side of the stage Qrow called, "The collectors of the wolf pieces are Simon Cadmer, Ellie Song, Rachael Bareller, and Gregory Anglo. They form 'Team SERG', led by Simon Cadmer."

The group of teens stepped to the side of the stage as well.

"The collectors of the red panda statues, River Bay, Ember Egnaro, Clara James and Kiara Sapphire, will form 'Team RECK'. Led by River Bay."

Ember cheered, Clara shrugged, and Kiara smiled.

River frowned confusedly, _Why am I the team leader? I can't lead people when I don't even know anything about my own past…._ She studied Qrow's face, as if it would let her know what he was thinking, but she couldn't see anything in his expression.

"That's us!" Ember was the first to jump on to the stage, followed by the others. When they walked past Qrow, he winked at them. The girls stepped to the side of the stage, where they were met by Professor Gray.

"Your dorm room is located in the west side of the dorm building. Let me see your scrolls so that I can download the room key onto them."

They handed in their scrolls. The professor typed something into them and handed them back. "Your luggage has already been taken to your room and should be waiting by the door for you."

"Thanks," River said. "Let's go, guys."

The group of four walked toward where they thought the west side of the building was.

When they finally found their dorms, they saw that their luggage was indeed waiting for them at the door.

"So..should we go in?" asked Clara when they were all staring at the door.

"Uh, yeah, that would be a good idea," River said sarcastically while picking up her bag.

Kiara opened up the door for them and they picked up her bags. They all walked into the room.

The room was a decent size for a dorm. There were two bunk beds pushed horizontally against the corners of the far wall, on either side of a large window. Two desks were in front of the window that looked out onto the school's grounds. Two more desks were on either side of the room, about three feet away from the beds. Two dressers were on either side of the door, and another door on the right side of the room hung open, revealing a decently-sized bathroom. There was a short bookcase in the room, as well.

The girls put their stuff down and looked around.

"I call a bottom bunk! Omigosh, I still can't believe how fancy this place is!" Ember exclaimed. "It's like a palace!"

The others looked at each other. It was a rather trashy dorm apartment.

Ember continued, "Did you know that Qrow got the idea of bunk beds from his famous nieces and their teammates? There used to be four separate beds that took up a lot of space."

"Really? Also, I get one of the tops. Who calls _bottom_ anyway?" River asked.

"Me. I get a bottom bunk. I don't want to fall out of the top." Kiara answered.

"Sure I'll take top." Clara said. She didn't seem to have a choice anyway.

An awkward silence filled the room, and they all stared at each other.

"I guess we should get to know each other," Ember said, breaking the silence. "Let's go around and say our names, where we come from, how we got into Beacon and why, and., I dunno. How many people are in your family," She finished, smiling. "Who wants to start?"

"I will. I guess," Kiara said quietly. "I am Kiara Sapphire, but you already knew that. I live near a small town in the middle of nowhere, called Araum. Umm, I got into Beacon after I applied here, and I've wanted to become a huntress since I was little. There are two people in my family: my mom and me. My dad is umm…well. He's gone." She closed her eyes as she whispered the last words.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." River said to the girl. Kiara shrugged and looked away.

"I'll go next." Clara said, "I am Clara James. I live on the very outskirts of a town that is... a while away from here. I never wanted to become a huntress. My mom forced me to apply to Beacon. And like Kiara, there are two people in my family, my dad left when I was little."

"You mean you never wanted to be here?" Ember asked, incredulously.

"Nope, I wanted to be an artist. But my mom made a bet with me and I lost." Clara said, annoyed.

They all stared at her. "I guess I'll go next- unless you want to go, River." Ember said.

"No, its okay, you go." River said motioning to the fox girl.

"Ok, I'm Ember Egnaro. I live in a faunus village called 'Savage Creek'. I've trained to become a huntress for most my life. But… my family never had much money. But I think that everything about this place is amazing! It's still hard for me to imagine that some people live like this."

"Anyways, I got into Beacon after my mentor talked to Qrow and had him watch me take down a grimm. I have five-" She stopped herself. She had to stop thinking about her older brother. He ran away, it was his choice, and it was his problem. He was the one that chose to leave the family. "I- I four siblings, and then there are my two parents."

"That's a big family. Well, compared to mine, anyway," Kiara said, wide-eyed.

"What about River?" Clara asked, turning to the black-haired girl. "Your turn."

River sighed and looked at the other girls. _Here goes nothing,_ she thought. "I'm River Bay, I used to live in Vale with my parents, but now..."

"Used to? What does that mean?" Ember hesitated. "Are they gone?"

"No. Not that I know of anyway. I-I moved out a while ago," River explained. She didn't feel like it was time to tell them the truth. "I got into Beacon because Qrow gave me a scholarship after seeing me take out a gunman. I never really considered being a huntress until recently. And I was never close to my parents, so you could say that I'm a family of one."

Everyone was quiet for a while.

"Well, not anymore, you aren't!" Ember exclaimed, reaching over and wrapping River in a hug.

"W-woah." River was definitely not used to such close contact, and when she wasn't used to something, she tended to shun it. . "Save the hugs for when we know each other a little better maybe?"

Ember pulled away and pouted. "But I like hugs. It's my fox genes, I guess."

"Wait, fox genes?" Clara asked. "Are you saying that your faunus traits actually affect your behavior and stuff?"

Ember's shoulder caved in and her ears flattened a bit. "Y-yeah. We try not to spread that around though. It would only spread more rumors about us being inferior to humans." Ember stood up straight again. "But we have everything that humans have. I actually have two faunus traits. So does Finn. It's really rare, but it also enhances our senses. Like smell, sight, hearing, and for me, being a cuddly fox."

"Yeah. Your tail looks really fluffy." Kiara stared at it. "I-I mean, not to be offensive to faunus or anything. But, just. I mean, I think their traits are awesome and stuff. I think faunus are great. I just thought your tail looked nice and I just- I'm sorry! I don't know. I-"

Ember burst out laughing. Kiara looked as if she was a little kid whose pet hamster had died.

Ember wiped her now tear-filled eyes. "I'm s-sorry, that was adorable." She took a deep breath and tried to ease her giggles. "It's totally fine, you're not being offensive. Do you wanna touch it?"

"W-what?" A relieved Kiara asked.

"My tail. You can touch if you like."

"Uh, I….Really?." Kiara inched over and gently rubbed her hand over Ember's tail. Her face broke into a grin. "It _is_ really fluffy." The ecstatic young teen rubbed her hands over it a bit more enthusiastically.

"What? Can I touch it?" An intrigued River asked. "I-I mean, If it's alright." She didn't want to overstep her boundaries, especially since she had just talked about what too much physical touching was.

Ember laughed again, "Yeah sure. "

River came over and felt it too.

Eventually, even Clara couldn't help herself. She cautiously approached

the group and touched the fox girl's tail as well.

"Wow." She said. "I can't believe that some people think _lesser_ of faunus because of their traits."

"Wanna touch my ears?" Ember- who was thoroughly enjoying their attention- asked. " _And._ I wouldn't be opposed if you could just scratch them a little bit."

River hesitated. "Are you sure this isn't offensive?" She asked.

"Well, not everyone would approve of it, but it's not bad or offensive to me at all." Ember told her.

River laughed and reached up to touch the redheaded girl's fox ears.

"Your tail and ears are by far the _fluffiest_ things that I have seen!"

After a while of them fawning over Ember's fluffy features, River looked at the clock that was above one of the windows.

"It's already eight?" She asked in surprise.

"It was seven-thirty when we got in here." Kiara said.

"Yeah, but we should probably get ready for bed. Classes start tomorrow morning at nine." Ember said.

"Ugh. Why would they start classes at nine on the _first_ day of school?" River groaned.

"Well, I think it's smart," Clara argued. "They get straight to the point, so as not to let kids think they can slack off."

"Geez, you really didn't want to come here, did you?" River rolled her eyes.

"No. I didn't." Clara turned away. "I-I'm going to get ready for bed." She started to make her way to the bathroom.

River immediately regretted what she had said. She already pushed one of her teammates too far on day one. And she was supposed to be a leader? She knew she wouldn't be cut out for this.

She tried to think about what it would be like to be in Clara's shoes. Pressured into choosing a very difficult career path, not only when you didn't want to, but when you already had a passion that you could have followed? Being a huntsman was not easy, and it took a lot of determination to pursue the job. She couldn't imagine how much more difficult it was when you had no drive for it.

The three girls eventually followed Clara's lead and started to unpack and get ready for bed.

Ember was in the shower and River, Clara, and Kiara (who had already finished their nighttime routines) were either standing around, unsure of what to do next, or lying on their bed. All of a sudden, there was a knock on their door.

The three girls looked confusedly at each other. Kiara went to open the door. Standing there was the newly made, team RYF(a)L.

"Hey, guys!" Lola exclaimed brightly.

"Wait, how did you know where our room was?" Asked a confused Clara.

"This idiot here had the bright idea to knock on _every single door_ of the entire dorm-house." Roxanna punched Lola's arm.

"Luckily, you guys are only three rooms down from us." Finn pointed up the hallway, in the direction of their own dorm room. "Wait, where's Ember?" He asked, peeking further into the room.

"She's in the shower," River replied.

"Oh." Finn turned red.

"So how'd you guys settle in?" asked Lola.

"All right," Clara shrugged. "How about you?"

"The bunk beds are ingenious," Yatsohide spoke up. "They are very efficient at saving space. I cannot believe they hadn't thought of them sooner."

"Ember said the exact same thing," River said, smiling. "Well… with less nerdiness." Yatsohide glared at her.

"Yeah, we shoved our beds together in the middle of the room so that no one would fall off," Finn laughed.

"Oh, that's cool," Clara said.

Suddenly the bathroom door opened. Yatsohide and Finn quickly turned away.

"It's alright. I'm dressed," Ember laughed. "When did you guys get here?"

Before anyone could answer, Kiara exclaimed, "YOUR TAIL!"

Ember looked at her tail, confused and suddenly worried. "What?" She asked.

"I-It's all sad and droopy!" Kiara looked horrified.

Ember's tail had indeed lost its poofiness to the water of the shower. She laughed. "Oh yeah, I have to blow-dry it. "

Finn and Yatso looked at each other. Then Finn said, "I think it's time us guys leave so, you girls can talk girl stuff. So, good night ladies." He bowed, and before anyone could say anything they were out the door and walking down the hallway.

All of the girls grinned. River went and got the hair dryer that they had found in the bathroom and plugged it into an outlet in the wall.

"After we do Ember's tail we should do each other's hair!" Lola exclaimed happily, as they brushed and dried the tail back to its usual fluffiness.

"Sure, you can do mine next." River said shrugging. She wouldn't mind anyone messing with her hair.

"Yay!" Lola cheered. "We have one voluntary victim. Anyone else?"

"I'll go, I guess," Kiara said.

"Good, Ember your tail is done." Lola said putting down the hair blow dryer. She turned to River and studied her. "Sit down. I think your hair would look good if it were out of your face."

River sat down and let the hyper girl take over. After a few minutes of Lola and the others brushing, braiding, and un-braiding her hair, Kiara said, "Oh, those are pretty."

"What are?" River asked as they handed her a mirror.

"Those little emerald things. On your temples." Ember said. The curious fox faunus couldn't keep herself from the shiny gems on the other girl's head. She reached out and touched one of them.

River yelled and grabbed her head, doubling over in pain.

"W-what happened?!" Kiara asked, horrified.

River was breathing heavily and a tear trailed down her face. "J-just don't touch them," she said through gritted teeth. Her head pounded painfully.

"River, what's going on?!" Clara demanded.

"Nothing." River stood up quickly and turned away from the group. "It doesn't matter."

"You can tell us, Riv-" Ember said moving toward her friend.

"No, I can't! You wouldn't understand." River snapped.

"How can you be sure if you won't try to tell us?!" Clara snapped back.

"Just shut up and leave me to my own problems," River yelled.

Ember stood up. "We're a team now, River. As a team, we need to be able to trust each other. That means no secrets. That means that _your_ problems are _our_ problems. You're our leader now."

"Yeah, well, maybe Qrow made a mistake! How can I lead you when I don't even know myself?" River said with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Even if Qrow did make a mistake, we can't exactly change it." Clara didn't know what else to say.

Roxanna spoke up. "Sure you can. Just talk to Qrow and I'm sure he'll switch-"

"Not helping!" Clara hissed at her.

Ember hugged River. It was the only thing she could do right now.

"What do you mean you don't know yourself?" Lola asked quietly.

"It's okay, River. You can trust us." Ember comforted.

River sighed and wiped her eyes, _I guess it's time the secret's out..._ "First promise you won't tell anyone. Not Finn, not Yatso, not _anyone_."

Everyone nodded and stayed quiet.

"I don't know how I got these gems on my forehead. When I was ten, I ran away from my parents, and I-I started stealing to survive." She paused and studied everyone's faces. "A week ago, I woke up in an alley. The last thing I remembered was stealing from a jewelry store when I was eleven." She stopped to see if anyone would react.

No one said anything. They just stared at her.

After a few moments of silence, River exclaimed, "Don't you see? I have forgotten six years of my past! I was a thief! "I don't know how I got the gems, but I feel like they have something to do with my forgotten past. Why aren't you saying anything?!"

Ember took a deep breath. "I-It's just a lot to take in. My brother left us for a bandit group of sorts, and- I don't know." She noticed River's saddened face. "I trust you though!" She reassured her. "It's just a little too familiar is all."

"I don't know what to think of this," Clara admitted. "But if you promise that you've changed- I don't know. I-I'll try to believe you. I feel like I know that you're okay. I just- I need some solid proof. My father told me he loved me, but one day he just left. B-but I don't think you're the type of person who would do that."

River didn't expect them to believe her right away, but it still hurt.

Kiara just stayed quiet for a while. She finally looked into River's eyes, "I- I can try to trust you. But it will be hard because a group of outlaws killed my father by-by burning down a building he was in. I am sorry, but it will take time for me to trust you completely."

River looked at the floor then up at her friends; tears blurred her vision. "No, I get it. You don't trust me because all of you have had trouble with people like me." She quickly turned and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

"River, wait!" Ember called after her. But she was already gone.

"What are we supposed to do now?" asked Kiara.

"Just leave her alone for now," Clara answered. "She can't avoid her team forever."

Roxanna stood up. "I think it's time for us to leave."

"Well. Have a good night." Lola got up as well and followed Roxanna to the door.

"Yeah, bye." Clara nodded.

R…..E…..C…..K

"What are you doing out of your dorm, River?" Qrow asked the black haired girl.

River had run from the dorm building and into a small courtyard where she accidentally ran into the headmaster.

Tears flowed from her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. "S-sorry," she managed to say.

"Is there something you need?" The man asked her.

She hesitated, "You made a mistake having me be the leader of the team. How do you expect me to be the leader when I don't even know myself? I told my teammates about everything and now they don't trust me." She burst out. "I can't lead them."

Qrow studied the girl, "Why don't they trust you?"

"I..I didn't tell you this before, but I was a thief after I ran away from my parents. And apparently, the others have had bad experiences with people like me. They don't know if I have changed. _I_ don't know if I have changed." River told him.

Qrow grinned and pulled out his canteen, filled, as many suspected, with alcohol, took a long drink then said, "Yeah, Ozpin wasn't kidding when he said that all you leaders like to tell us headmasters that we're wrong. Well, I have made a lot of mistakes in my life. And you will, and clearly have, made many mistakes. But don't come here and tell me I'm wrong before you even try to accept my choice. Let the cards fall where they may. And if you still don't think you're meant to be .. Well, no one's forcing you to stay at Beacon."

River rolled her eyes. "You aren't helping, you know." She said as a tear trickled down her cheek.

"Can I tell you a story?" The headmaster asked. Before River could answer he started talking. "When I was your age and attending Beacon, I had this one class. PE."

He shuddered. "There was a test, as there are in most classes. And what we had to do was this whole obstacle course. Run laps around that cursed field, do fifty push-ups, you name it. Well, I hated the time that it was held, and I almost always showed up late, if I showed up at all. I got an F in that class," He said, looking off behind River past and reveling in an unknown past.

River looked confused, "And...what exactly does that have to do with my situation?"

Qrow frowned and thought about it for a second then shrugged. "Nothing really. I was just thinking about it when you ran into me. Anyway, it's very late now. We have been talking for a very long time now. Well, maybe only two or three minutes. I'm gonna go now. Good luck with your teammates." With that, he transformed into a crow and flew away.

River frowned, she turned around and started slowly back to the dorm. _Things will work themselves out. Right now, just try to show people that you have changed._


	9. Chapter 9: First Day of School

**A/N: Hey guys, so sorry for the late posting! We've all been pretty busy. Also, our editor hasn't had time to look over this chapter. We tried to post-pone but we couldn't wait any longer so here is the next chapter, un-edited. Happy reading!**

Kiara looked around, confused. _Why is it so hot? Wait, it's burning!_ Her eyes widened. She was standing in front of a small building. Somehow, she knew her father was inside.

"Dad!" Kiara screamed as she stumbled forward. But the building had disappeared. In its place was a pile of ashes. In the ashes was a human skull. Kiara opened her mouth and tried to scream, but no sound came out. A familiar figure was standing in front of her.

"R-river?" She asked. River stood there. Somehow her clothes were completely clean, despite standing in the pile of burnt rubble. She didn't say anything.

"River? What are you doing? H-help!" Kiara pleaded.

"Why?" River asked, stone-faced.

"We're a team. We're supposed to be there for each other!"

"You don't trust me, no one does. I'm just a criminal anyway." She said disgustedly as she turned and walked away.

"No! River, wait!" Kiara screamed after her. She ran towards her but she was gone. There was nothing but shadows. "River! River, please!"

"Kiara?"

Kiara sat up straight, panting. Sweat dripped down her forehead. Where was she?

"Kiara, are you okay?" Ember was standing next to her. She was in her dorm. It was just a dream.

Kiara took a deep breath. "Y-yeah. I'm fine." She got out of her bed. The sun was just rising over the far-off mountains, so she needed to get up anyway to get ready for the day.

She was used to her dreams, but that didn't make them any less scary in the moment. And this one. This one was new.

"It was just a dream." She told her friends, but she didn't know if she was reassuring them or herself.

"Oh, okay. Do you want to talk about it?" Ember asked concerned.

"Yeah, you were like, yelling River's name, I think." Clara was gathering her things for the day.

"I- It was nothing." Kiara responded quickly. "I have a lot of nightmares. And River just ended up in that one, I guess."

"Speaking of River, where is she? The bathroom is empty." Ember looked around.

"I heard her leave the room earlier this morning." Clara answered. "If she wants to figure this out, she'll talk to us eventually. But I guess we should give her some space right now. If not for her, then for us."

"Sure, I guess." Ember shrugged. "Let's go get breakfast. I'm pretty hungry!"

"Agreed." Clara nodded.

The three girls got ready for the day and made their way to the school's cafeteria.

"Look, there's River." Kiara pointed to a table in the corner of the room. River was sitting by herself in the cafeteria, nibbling on a piece of toast while scrolling down her scroll.

The three teammates got their food and walked over to her.

"Hiya! Trying to avoid your teammates?" Ember questioned.

"Wha? N-no, I was- I just- woke up early?"

Clara laughed. " _You_ seem sure of yourself."

"Sorry." River mumbled.

"Hey guys!" Lola slammed her tray down on their table, spilling her milk. The rest of her team was behind her.

"Um, hi Lola." Ember replied. "Hey Rox, Yatso, Finn." She smiled at Finn.

"Hey." He smiled back. They continued looking at each other for a few seconds.

"Okay lovebirds, enough of that." Roxanna rolled her eyes and sat down as well. "So did you find your lockers yet?"

"Lockers? What Lockers?" Asked Clara.

"The school should have sent your scroll a message about where your portable lockers are and how they work." Yatsohide explained

Team RECK checked their scrolls.

"Oh yeah. Cool." River finally spoke, announcing that she did in fact exist.

They all looked at her. Yatsohide coughed. "I must inform you that even though some of your past decisions may not have been as wise as they ought to have been, I thoroughly believe that you are not a bad person. Or at least you have done nothing to suggest otherwise."

River's eyes narrowed. "Who told you?" She growled.

"Oh..hehe. I miiiight have let that slip." Lola said, shrinking under River's gaze..

"YOU WHAT?!" River yelled at her, "I told you not to tell anyone!" She stood up from the table. "I want people to trust me for who I am now. Not the me that I can't even remember."

"We're sorry!" Lola squeaked.

"You're right River." Finn said. "We should treat you for who you are now, forgotten past or not."

"That was a very intellectual for _you_ to say, Finn." Yatsohide approved.

"I just want to stay on her good side." The tiger boy whispered back.

River sat back down and sniffed. "Thanks guys." She said.

"Umm… it's eight thirty. If you want to eat you better do it now." Clara told the group.

"No! Do NOT take food away from _this_ fox!" Ember cried. She immediately began shoveling eggs into her mouth.

River sighed. _Things could be worse._ She thought.

R…..E…..C…..K

"Hurry! Hurry!" Team RECK was sprinting down the hallway to their first class.

"Late on the first day. This will not leave a good impression." Clara panted.

"Well at least we have most of our classes together." Ember pointed out.

The girls reached the door to their first class. River inched it open as slowly and quietly as she could manage.

"I think that if we slip in, we'll be in the-"

"Aah, team RECK. Finally care to join us? Or does that _inconvenience_ you?" A very stern looking man scowled at them. He had on a thin, dark brown sweater over a long-sleeved, collared, white shirt. His hair was styled in a comb-over. He did not look happy.

Ember started, "We're really sorry! We came as fast as we-"

"Enough." He stopped her. "Go and find your seats. You will see me after class."

They obeyed and climbed a few stairs of the rows of seats that curved around to face the professor.

Ember glanced back at the professor. She could have sworn she saw his eyes flicking between her ears and tail. Their eyes met. He scowled harder.

When they sat down he returned to the lecture he seemed to be giving.

"This is exactly what I was just talking about. I will not tolerate this kind of laziness in my classroom. If I see that any of you are slacking off, I will immediately doc points. As huntsmen in training, you must learn that there are no second chances. If you mess up, a grimm will not back down and wait around for you to regain your composure. And neither will I."

"Ugg. Who is this guy?" Clara whispered, annoyed.

"It says 'Professor Dante' on the chalkboard." Kiara replied.

"Wow. Okay, Grimm studies is my least favorite class now." River crossed her arms.

The professor continued, "Who can tell me the most common type of grimm found in Remnant?" No one answered.

"Ms. Harrick?" Everyone turned their heads to a shy looking girl with the ears of a koala.

"I-I don't know." The girl admitted.

"Hmm. You don't know. What a shame. If you had learned anything at all you would have answered 'Beowolf'. I wonder how you managed to get into this class." The professor's mouth quirked upwards in a grin before continuing, " What is the first thing to do when a grimm is sighted?" again, no one answered.

"Wow. This is a disappointment." The professor shook his head, "How about you Mr. Ryall?" Everyone turned their attention to a bored looking boy with bear ears."

"Uh...Fight it?" The boy answered.

"That is also incorrect. I don't suspect that you will last long in my class."

"What a jerk." River scowled.

Suddenly Ember spoke up. "Sir, the correct answer is to remain calm. Since grimm are attracted to negative emotions, it is best to clear your mind of any so as not to rile it."

Professor Dante squinted at her. "I don't believe I remember asking you, Ms. Egnaro." He looked over all of his students. "This kind of unruly behavior will not be allowed under my watch." Then he turned back Ember. "Of course, I wouldn't expect much from...,' He looked her up and down, eyes flicking to her tail and ears, " your type." Though his face was blank, his eyes glinted with that of a grin.

Ember opened her mouth to retaliate, but thought better of it and closed it again.

"Let's continue with the lesson, shall we?" The professor turned back to the chalkboard.

. R…..E…..C…..K

"-and he was clearly targeting faunus! " Ember stormed down the hallway with the rest of her team. "What is his problem? It was disgusting to watch!"

Clara and River rolled their eyes and Kiara frowned. They had been listening to Ember rage all day. Now it was their last class period of the day, but she still couldn't seem to get the topic off her mind.

"Ya, and now we have extra homework on the first day of school." Clara scowled. Ember's negative mood was starting to rub off on her. "I'm holding all of you responsible for being late. I was the only one who was ready to leave on time."

"Late or not, that guy is a bully. Why would Qrow even hire him?" River crossed her arms.

"Qrow's not very thorough. He probably doesn't even realize how horrible of a man Dante."

"Umm...guys? I think so too, but my next class is in the other direction." Kiara nervously interjected.

"Oh, why didn't you say so sooner?" River laughed.

"Oh, me too." Ember realized. "C'mon Kiara, let's hurry." She motioned for Kiara to follow her. "Bye guys!" She took off down the hallway, her partner in close pursuit.

River pulled up her calendar on her scroll "We have dust theory with Professor Grey next." She told Clara.

"Then let's get going. I'm not going to be late to this class as well." Clara picked up her pace with determination. If she was going to be forced to attend Beacon then she certainly wouldn't make a fool out of herself.

R…..E…..C…..K

"Dust theory sounds a lot more interesting than it is," Clara whispered to River as Professor Gray wrote a few important notes onto the board.

"Hahaha, yeah. I think that it's easier to learn about how Dust works when you are using it." River whispered back. She had taken a few notes, but none of them made sense so she crumpled them up.

"Now, who here has ever used Dust and could explain what it can be used for?" Professor Gray asked turning to the group of bored teenagers.

Several kids raised their hands.

Clara made a face. "Only the rich kids have used Dust enough to really know how it works."

River rolled her eyes, "Well, duh. Dust is expensive and they are the only ones that can afford to use it daily." Then she grinned, "I remember one time I was in a Dust shop and there was this one boy who ran into a display case and it exploded."

"I would have payed to see that." Clara smiled.

"Ms. James and Ms. Bay! If you would stop talking to each other when you are supposed to be listening, maybe you would learn something." Professor Gray snapped at the two teammates.

"Yes, Professor Gray!" The two said said at the same time. Just then the bell rang.

"Everyone dismissed." The teacher said annoyedly.

The two girls packed up their things and followed the small stream of students heading out the door.

"Oh, hey! I didn't know you guys were in dust theory this period." Finn came up behind them. "But man! It was _so_ boring!"

"I know, right." River agreed.

"But I heard we'll get to experiment with actual dust later in the year." Finn tried to brighten the mood. "I hear that's really interesting. An upperclassman told me that it's impossible for someone to not explode something at least once. Anyway, where's Ember?"

"She's in plant science with Kiara, and I think, Roxanna." Clara replied. "Why do you want to know?"

Finn crossed his arms defensively. "Because she's my friend and I'm allowed to want to know where she is."

"Riiiight." River rolled her eyes, " _Just_ friends."

Finn's face heated up. "Let's go to dinner already, I'm starving!"

"That's something we can agree on." Clara nodded. And they headed towards the cafeteria.

 **A/N: Hey, this is Jay. If you guys have any advice for our story it would be greatly appreciated since we're all pretty new at this.**

 **Also, what do you think is going to happen? We'll be settling team RECK at Beacon for a while but the larger plot will be coming. ;)**


	10. Chapter 10: First Day of School Pt 2

**A/N: Hey guys, this chapter is kind of really sucky. We were just messing around and trying to have fun with our characters, y'know? Better chapters coming soon, I promise!**

 **-Jay**

River, Clara, and Finn entered the cafeteria and quickly found the rest of their teams, who were already sitting. Kiara and Ember were quietly chatting among themselves, Yatsohide was reading a book while eating soup, and Roxanna and Lola were in a seemingly deep discussion.

"Ugg, that's not what I meant and you know it, Roxy." Lola was saying.

"Then what did you mean?" responded Roxanna. "I'm just saying that being bigger than beowolves doesn't make ursae stronger. And don't _ever_ call me Roxy." The redhead scowled at the nickname.

"Then what do you want to be called? Rox? Anna?" Lola inquired.

"Hey, guys! Hi, Ember." Finn announced their presence.

"Finn! There you are!" Ember jumped up and hugged him. Finn froze.

"It's okay, Finn. She does that to everyone, as we have found." River laughed.

"S-sorry!" Ember let go of him, blushed, and led him to the table, where they sat down.

Roxanna and Lola didn't seem to notice what had happened.

"Why can't you just call me by my real name?" An exasperated Roxanna asked.

"But that's no fun." Lola pouted. "Everyone has a nickname! I'm Lo, River is Riv, Kiara is Ki, if we knew a Joseph we'd probably call him Joe, and Finn...Okay Finn doesn't count."

"Hey! I count!" Finn defended.

Lola shook her head. "You can't have a nickname if your name is only one syllable." She turned back to Roxanna. "But everyone one else does!"

"That's no fair!" Finn exclaimed. "Hey, wait. Ember doesn't have a nickname."

Lola blinked and looked at Ember. "You're right. She doesn't"

"Well of course I'm right!" Finn smiled.

"Shut up." Ember, who was sitting next to him, laughed and whacked him in the head.

"Well now we have to find you one!" Lola played with her hair. "Hmm"

" _Do_ you have a nickname?" Kiara asked the faunus girl.

"Um…" Ember hesitated. "Well I have one…"

"Eureka!" Lola cheered. "What is it?"

"Well um…" Ember twisted her tail with her hands. "My trainer is the only one who's ever called me it. B-but we're close and stuff."

"C'mon! You can tell us." Finn urged….

Ember sighed. "U-umm. He calls me Kit."

"That's adorable!" Lola exclaimed.

"Yup! It's perfect." River agreed.

"It's kind of embarrassing." Ember mumbled.

Finn grinned. "Well I think it's super cute. I'm definitely calling you that now!" He leaned in closer to her.

Ember blushed hard. "Nooooo!" She squealed, shoving him away.

Finn pouted. "But I want to!"

"Uug. _Please_ stop, I'm losing my appetite." Roxanna crossed her arms.

Finn and Ember looked up awkwardly. They had completely forgotten that their friends were there.

"Shut up Roxanna! We could have used that as blackmail later!" River said.

"You shut up!" The two girls glared at each other.

"Calm down guys! Why do you hate each other so much?" Clara asked.

River scowled. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe 'cause Goth girl here is a cold-hearted jerk."

"What did you call me?" Roxanna stood up.

"What? You got a problem?" River stood up too.

"Um, guys? Maybe we shouldn't fight in here…" Lola said quietly

"Fine. Let's bring this outside." River half suggested, half demanded.

"Fine. You're gonna get your ass kicked!"

They stormed out of the cafeteria yelling insults at each other the whole way. The teams watched their leaders in worry.

Kiara laid her head in her arms and groaned. This is exactly what she was worried about when she came to Beacon. For every friend you have is another enemy, but nothing is worse than watching two friends become enemies. This is why she didn't try very hard to meet new people.

"Hey pipsqueak! Whatcha crying 'bout?" Kiara raised her head. In front of her were three tall boys and one girl.

"Hey, shut up. Don't talk to my friend like that." Clara had been in a bad mood, but this was the breaking point.

The boy in front, who was apparently their leader smirked. "Ooh! So scary! What's a small fry like you gonna do."

"And what're _you_ gonna do?" Ember recognized the smug looking teens. It was team BL(a)CK. They were second-years at Beacon who thought they were better than everyone else.

"Standing up for the cry baby are you? That's sweet." A boy with greasy blonde hair named Larson said sarcastically. "But, if you're asking to be killed you are gonna have to wait in line, sweetheart."

"Don't call me that." Ember growled. She and her friends got up to leave.

"C'mon hottie. I'm just havin' some fun. You understand don't you?" Larson said grinning.

"Don't call her that." Finn said through clenched teeth.

"What's wrong with you? Are you scared?" Chazz, who had a buzzcut and was the smallest of the boys, said snickering at Kiara, who was looking at the ground and trying to avert the whole situation.

"Shut up! Leave her be." yelled Lola.

"Who are _you,_?" asked Kassandra, the girl of the group.

Lola, who obviously did not pick up on his sarcasm, flipped her social switch on."Oh! Thanks for asking, I am Lola, and this is Yatsohide, Finn, Kiara, Ember, she has a really fluffy tail by the way! And this is Clara! Oh and then there are our leaders Roxy- I mean Roxanna and River, but they went outside. And- "

"Shut up blabbermouth. we don't care!" Lucas yelled

Lola fell silent in shock. "...Um, If you'll excuse us we will be going on our way, thanks!" she said turning around.

The leader said, "You don't think you're getting away that easily do you? 'Cause were not done here."

"Are you asking for a fight?" Yatsohide replied, but it sounded rather wimpy coming from the small, lanky boy.

"That's exactly what I want, you nerd." Chazz said grinning.

"Well, you're not gonna get one here." Lola said, grabbing Yatsohide by the shoulders shoving him towards the nearest exit.

"You scared of a little fight?" Kassandra asked. "Wimps."

"Will you guys just shut up and leave us alone?" Finn asked angrily.

"Of course we will." The girl said sarcastically. She winked at Finn. "Come on boys, let's go." Both groups turned around and started walking away from each other.

"Ugg, what jerks. That was-" There was a 'clang' and Finn crumpled to the ground.

"Finn!" Ember and Lola screamed. They turned to see the girl from the team standing behind them grinning and holding a short club.

"Looks like tiger boy is taking a short cat nap." The girl said, laughing at her own joke.

"Now, thats it!" Clara said taking out her longsword. Her friends also took out their weapons.

The people in the cafeteria were starting to take notice and started murmuring to each other. Some were standing up wondering what was happening and others started filming on their scrolls.

Without a hesitation Ember lunged forward and tried to strike at the girl with her staff. The girl blocked it with her club and rolled to the side.

Lola and Clara charged at two of the others and soon were taking turns slashing and jabbing at the two boys who defended themselves with their own weapons.

Kiara and Yatsohide just stood there not knowing whether to fight or break up the fight that was going on.

The leader of team BLCK looked at the two and decided that they weren't worth the trouble of fighting with so he sat back and watched, smiling.

A few moments later Roxanna and River walked back into the room, River was smiling triumphantly and Roxanna looked like she wanted to kill her.

"Guess who wo- oh…" The two stopped dead in their tracks when they saw what was happening.

Without a hesitation River raised her hand, a shadow grabbed the girl from team BLCK around the neck and lifted her a few feet off the ground. Ember, who had been grappling with the girl, looked over at River and gave her a thumbs-up and a smile.

Roxanna pulled out her Katana and quickly had one of the guys, that Clara and Lola were fighting, on the ground unconscious. Clara and Lola had already taken out the other one.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Roxanna and River both yelled at their teammates and team BLCK's leader.

"First put down my teammate." The leader said pointing at the girl that River still had held up in the air.

River scowled and put her arm down. The girl fell to the ground, gasping for breath. "Now tell us what the heck is going on."

"We were just having a bit of fun when your teams attacked us." The girl said angrily.

"NO! You frickin knocked out Finn!" Ember yelled back.

"They what!?" The two leaders said at the same time. Looking around they spotted Finn sitting up and rubbing his head.

"I'm ok.." He whimpered. He slowly pushed himself off the floor.

The door to the cafeteria swung open and Qrow walked in. "Would someone like to tell me what just happened in here?" He asked angrily.

All of the kids that were filming the fight quickly put their scrolls away. Roxanna and River turned to their teams and motioned for them to put their weapons away.

"Braxton why don't you tell me?" Qrow said turning to team BLCK's leader.

"We were just having a conversation when these maniacs attacked us." Braxton said pointing to the two other teams.

"Liar!" Lola yelled at the top of her lungs. "You were picking on Kiara! And then when we turned around, your idiot of a teammate knocked Finn out!"

"Yeah, but as far as I can tell your teams knocked out two of my teammates and hung one by the neck in mid air!" Braxton yelled back at her.

"That was self defense!" Clara said.

"QUIET!" Qrow yelled. The hall went silent. "I saw several of you filming when I came in. One of you give me your scroll so I can see."

A tall boy with red hair silently walked up to the headmaster and handed him his scroll with the footage from the previous fifteen minutes playing on it. Qrow watched the video as the three teams stood awkwardly.

After a few moments he spoke, "You're all right in a way. I want to see all three of your teams in my office."

"What? But we did nothing wrong!" Lola complained.

"Shush, Lo. We did retaliate when _they_ attacked." Roxanna said glaring at team BLCK.

They got team BLCK up and made sure they were fine before they started to follow Qrow to his office.

"I can't go to jail! I won't survive! I'll die!" Lola squeaked. "No! I-I'll work out. I'll get super strong. My voice will get very low." She lowered the tone of her voice. And her eyes narrowed. "I'll run the place."

"Lola!" Roxanna whisper-yelled.

"Yes?" Lola responded in her fake deep voice.

"Shutup!"

They reached Qrow's office where he led them inside and sat down in his chair.

"How did you know that there was a fight going on in there?" Yatsohide asked Qrow.

"At first I went in there so that I could discipline your team leaders, River and Roxanna. I saw the two of them fighting in the front field." Qrow said giving the two girls disapproving looks.

"River used her semblance to chain Roxanna in a tree upside down, until Roxanna relented.

"So after they went inside I followed them in and found the fight between all of your teams going on."

"Team RECK is the one that started it! And then team RYFL joined in." Braxton complained.

"No, you started it by provoking their teams, and then you attacked. They only retaliated because you knocked out one of their teammates. But since you all joined the fight you will all be punished for it." Qrow turned to River and smiled. "Do you remember the story I told you last night?"

River rolled her eyes. "You mean the pointless one about P.E. class?"

"Yes. That one. You are all going to have to run the same obstacle course without failure." Qrow said with a huge grin.

River's friends all looked at her confused.

"Umm.. What obstacle course?" Clara asked frowning.

R…..E…..C…..K

"This is the obstacle course." Qrow said pointing to a large field with ditches, ropes and other obstacles in it.

"I can get how you failed that class." River said.

Qrow glared at her. "You can't leave until you run through the obstacle course without failing." He said.

Everyone groaned.

"Then go to the rest of your classes. If you took too long on the obstacle course, run by the class that you missed, inform the teacher about what happened, and get your homework from it." with that Qrow walked away.

"I guess we should get started..." Lola said after a few moments of silence.

"Sure.." Everyone agreed.

In all, it took them about twenty minutes to finish the whole thing.

"That...was... exhausting…." Ember managed in between breaths.

"We still have to go do homework." Yatsohide pointed out, being the studious pupil he was.

"This is sure to go down in the history of worst first day's ever!" Lola exclaimed.

 **A/N: Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that the rating on our story is a little high because we're going to have some heavier stuff later on and we wanted to have the room to do that comfortably.**

 **Don't forget to leave a review if you liked. Or if you want to make a suggestion or guess what's coming up.**

 **-Ren**


	11. Chapter 11: Partners and the Past

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's a nice long chapter for you, where we finally get down to the deep stuff. We hope you enjoy. Happy reading!**

 **-Em**

"Today sucked." Clara entered team RECK's dorm room and plopped down onto Ember's bed, which was much easier to access than hers.

"Tell me about it." River groaned. She sat down in a chair and threw her school bag onto her desk. "We still have to do that extra homework that Dante gave us."

"Nooo!" Ember fell to her knees dramatically. "Life is merciless!"

Ember flicked her ears when she heard a shaky breath coming from Kiara's bed. It sounded almost like she was….

Kiara had her knees pulled up to her chest and her head was buried in her arms.

She was shaking and trying to suppress her sobs.

"Kiara! Are you okay?" Ember rushed to her side "I'm sure we'll get through this homework. I know it's been a long day-"

"I-It's not that." Kiara choked. "I...The fight in the cafeteria. And Finn. I-it was all my fault."

"What do you mean?" asked Clara. "It wasn't your fault. We all fought."

"B-but none of that would have happened if I had stood up for myself." Kiara wiped her eyes, trying to stop her tears, but it was useless. She felt so stupid, getting upset over nothing.

"Guys! I just remembered. I left my notes in the cafeteria!" River jumped up.

"I'll come with you." Clara rolled her eyes and stood up from the chair she had been sitting in.

They quickly left the dorm.

Meanwhile, Ember was busy calming down her partner.

"I'm sick of being a terrible fighter. I'm sick of working hard and having amount to nothing." Kiara told Ember. "I guess it's because I've never been to a real training school."

"Well, I don't think any of us have had 'real training'. Especially not me. But look at us, we've made it to Beacon and we're training to become real huntresses. Don't talk as if you're failing all your classes. Today was our first day for goodness sake. I'm sure you're plenty good at fighting." Ember assured her.

"Th-thanks. But I don't think so. Ever since my dad died I just…I didn't...nevermind." She turned her face away from Ember.

"Hey, you can tell me. Think of this as a 'new partner' training exercise." Ember urged her on.

"I...I just-" Kiara hiccuped. "I don't think I'm ready to tell anyone yet."

Ember frowned. "I understand. But just know that when you're ready, I'll be here to listen."

Kiara wiped her face with her hand and took a deep breath. "Th-thanks Ember."

"Of course."

R…..E…..C…..K

"I feel bad running out like that." River sighed. She and Clara had retrieved River's notes and were now walking back to their dorm. It was dark. The only light around them was the dim light bulbs on the walls of the hall.

"Ya me too. But I don't think I would have been much help. I'm not good with...other people." Clara mumbled.

"You think you're bad? I don't remember ever having any sort of relationship with another human being, unless you count my parents. But our relationship was pretty screwed up." River cringed at the thought.

"I know what you mean." Clara looked at the floor. "Well, not exactly. I guess it's my fault that I shove people away. I don't know… I just find it hard to trust people. Takes me awhile."

"Do you trust us?" River asked. She fidgeted with her knife pouch which was on her waist, a nervous habit.

"Do you expect me to trust you? That's a pretty demanding expectation, seeing as I've only known you for a day." Clara noticed her harsh tone of voice and dialed it down a bit. "I mean, sure you guys are okay; Roxanna too."

River scowled. "That girl? She's so annoying. I don't understand how you can like her."

"Hey, I meant that she was trustworthy, not perfect.. And _you_ were quick to judge. Even more so than me. You both were."

"No I wasn't! What's that supposed to mean?" River stopped and turned to Clara, crossing her arms. Clara did the same.

"I mean that I like Rox because she's kind of like me. Making friends is _not_ a top priority. And when she sees something she doesn't like, she doesn't sit back and tolerate it. She lets everyone know exactly what she thinks. But she's not mean about it. …Well, maybe she can be a bit rude-"

"Uh, yeah!" River interjected.

"You can be just as rude!" Clara pointed out. "And judgmental, and inconsiderate, and hostile-"

"Okay, okay, I get it." River scowled, but then her face softened. "I'm I that bad? I haven't had a good six years to figure this out, but I thought I was doing pretty good."

"Well, you're not _that_ bad."

"Sorry, Clara. I guess I can _try_ be nicer to her…"

Clara smiled at her partner. "Thank's River. That's cool of you."

"But only if she's nice to me."

Clara punched River in the arm. "Okay, not so cool."

River sighed. "Can I tell you something?

Clara nodded, curiosity in her eyes.

River took a deep breath. "I don't think I should be leader because, well, because I wouldn't be good at it. But there's also another reason."

Clara said nothing. River continued.

"I never took a test to get into Beacon."

"You…what?" Clara looked shocked.

"Well, you guys all took a test of some sort. Even Ember's impromptu test. But for me… Qrow just kind of showed up. All I did was knock someone out. It wasn't even that hard. He was unarmed." She looked at Clara before continuing, "I'm not even sure of my own capabilities, seeing as how I can't remember where I learned to fight past the age of 11. For all I know, I'm completely unqualified to be here."

"Oh...well, you must have done _something_ to impress him." Clara reasoned.

"He was probably just drunk or something."

Clara frowned. "We all know that Qrow isn't very affected by alcohol. I'm pretty sure he acts the same when he's sober. _If_ he's ever sober."

River gave a half-hearted laugh, "Ya." Then she noticed how quiet it was. She couldn't sense any movement in the lively dorm halls and the only noise was the thunderous snores that were coming from behind the walls. ' _Wow. I'm glad I'm not on a team with that guy,'_ River thought.

Clara broke the silence,"Let's get back."

"Yeah." River agreed. She turned and followed Clara back to their team's room

R…..E…..C…..K

"Let's sit over there." Clara whispered to her team and team RFYL. It was their second day of school and they were only six minutes late to their combat class, an improvement on their lateness the day before, but late all the same.

There were about twenty people in the seats (It was the biggest class of all since it only had two times slots) either sleeping or staring at their books, with bored looks looks on their faces.

"Ah, there you are. You people find a seat so we may begin," Professor Goodwitch, the combat class teacher told them sharply. As the girls, Finn, and Yatsohide sat down, she continued with what she was saying. "In this class we will be working on your combat skills. As a huntsman or huntress in training, it is important to learn how to recognize fighting patterns and adjust to new ones. That being said, the randomizer will choose two people to duel each other and we will go from there."

She clicked a button and two large screens that were around the training deck lit up. Pictures of people scrolled down the screens before finally stopping. A picture of a girl with white hair and pale pink skin showed up on one screen. And on the other was River.

"Weiss Schnee from team RWBY and River Bay from team RECK." Professor Goodwitch announced.

"Did she just say Weiss Schnee from team RWBY?!" Ember squealed.

Around them people were murmuring things about this supposed 'RWBY' team.

River leaned over and asked Ember, "Who's in team RWBY? What's so special about them?"

All of her friends just stared at her. "Oh.. right. The memory thing. Umm, we'll have to tell you after the duel." Finn said with a small smile.

River frowned and stood up, "You better tell me. I'm gonna get murdered down there. This girl looks like a junior or senior."

"Oh she's a senior alright." River heard Kiara mutter as she left.

River tensed as she approached the arena. If she really wasn't the qualified to be here, she would be exposed as a fool for the whole school to see and she would be sent home packing. This is what she had feared would happen since the moment she stepped foot at Beacon.

River went and stood on the platform. Across from her stood a girl in a white dress, the girl wore a thin, pointy sword at her side.

"Weiss Schnee." The girl said shortly, coming up to her and holding out her hand.

"Um, hi?" River said, frowning she shook Weiss' hand.

"In positions." Professor Goodwitch called.

The two stepped away from each other and drew their weapons.

"Ready? BEGIN."

River had three knives flying through the air at the girl. Weiss blocked all of them and then lunged forward.

River dove to the side and rolled to her feet. She raised her hand and the large shadow that was on the wall of the ring melted like molten lava and came up behind Weiss. The wall turned into a string and wrapped around her legs, lifting her into the air.

She grunted and shifted her body into a somewhat upwards position."Nice job, for a first year." Weiss said smiling, with a glint in her eye. She closed her eyes for a split second and focused.

Out of the corner of her eye River saw a light, but before she could turn around to see what it was, something crashed into her and she flew across the room. She slammed into a wall and fell to the ground. Her head spun and pounded. River's arm that had been controlling the shadows had dropped and Weiss fell to the ground and landed on her feet.

The girl in white came towards River and used her circles of light ( _Glyphs?_ River thought _. I guess that's her semblance)_ to slam River into the ground again. River's vision swam with stars. She stood and grabbed another knife from her pouch, staggering a bit from dizziness. She swung the long knife in Weiss' direction but the girl blocked it with her sword.

And summoned another glyph below River's feet, this one making her stick to the ground. The older girl brought her sword to River's side, making her double-over.

Suddenly the light brightened as the force-field around the arena shut off.

"Match ended. River's aura has dropped to red. The winner is Weiss Schnee." Professor Goodwitch called.

Three girls came down to the platform and hugged Weiss.

"Good job Weiss!" one of the three said. She had red and black hair and wore a red cape and a black battle skirt with black boots.

"Though you probably shouldn't always try to use a glyph to fight your way out of those kind of situations." A blond haired girl from the group said.

When the girl in white cast her a unamused glance the blonde raised her hands saying, "I'm just teasing you, you did great!" She had a yellow robotic arm, and wore a brown top and black shorts.

"Blake, do have anything to say?" Weiss asked the last girl.

She was a black-haired faunus with cat ears. She wore a long white jacket with a black crop top and black pants and boots. "No." The girl said simply

"River!"

River looked over to see her teammates and team RFYL coming towards her. Slowly she managed to stand.

"I told you I would get killed." She muttered.

"You didn't die because you're standing right here, talking to us." Yatsohide said with a smile, crossing his arms.

"Are you okay? You hit that wall pretty hard." Kiara said quietly.

"Yeah the wind was just knocked out of me. And I think I might have hit my head." River answered. "Let's go sit back down and you guys explain to me who team RWBY is."

"Shouldn't you go say 'Good game' or something like that to her?" Ember asked looking over to where team RWBY was standing.

River turned away from her teammate so that they couldn't see her scowl. SHe'd already been humiliated enough. She hadn't even been able to get a single blow in, and now she was expected to confront the opponent again?

River nodded and, very reluctantly, walked over to Weiss, her friends trailing behind her.

"Good job. You did well for a freshman." Weiss said shaking River's hands.

"Thanks, but that doesn't change the fact that I sucked." River mumbled.

"Clear the platform." Professor Goodwitch called.

As they walked back up to the seats Weiss introduced her teammates. "This is Ruby our team leader." She said pointing to the girl in red. "This is Yang." The girl in yellow smiled. "And this is Blake." The girl with cat ears nodded.

"Nice to meet you. I'm River, and these are my teammates, Ember, Clara and Kiara. And this is team RYFL: Roxanna, Yatsohide, Lola and Finn." River said pointing to all of them in turn.

"Nice to meet you as well. See you around." Weiss said as she and her team walked back to their seats.

River and her friends sat back down. "You just practically became friends with team RWBY!" Lola exclaimed.

"I don't even know who team RWBY is. What did they do that made them so great?" River asked.

"Whoever took your memory did a great job of it, because I don't think anyone could forget who team RWBY is." Clara said.

River glared at her.

"Anyway, team RWBY was a major contributor to the take down of the White Fa- do you know what the White Fang is?" Clara asked stopping in mid-sentence.

"Yeah, from what I remember they were a group of faunus protestors." River said.

" Okay, well, they stopped protesting and became a group of terrorists that helped this crazy, evil lady named Salem who had been trying to destroy the world since the beginning of time along with her group of evil people." Lola said finishing what Clara had started to say. "But team RWBY destroyed them."

"Okay, now it makes sense why everyone knows of them." River said frowning. It had been more than four weeks since she had woken up in that alley and every day seemed to agitate her more and more. Without her knowing it, tears of frustration trickled down her face. Maybe it was the pain in her head. Or in her pride. Or both

"Riv, you okay?" Ember asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just... Nevermind, let's focus on this duel." River said wiping her face. She turned and watched the next two teenagers compete.

One of them was a dark haired guy from a team called J(u)N(io)R (They only had three members. Weird) who was a senior and the other was a the girl from team BLCK. The team JNR guy won the fight easily.

After three more fights and a few pointers from the teacher, class was dismissed.

"That's probably the funnest class here." Roxanna said as the two teams walked down the hallway to the library. Combat class had been their last class of the day.

"'Funnest' is not a word." Yatsohide pointed out. They ignored him.

"Ha, only if you're a spectator." River muttered.

"I bet I could've beat that girl." Roxanna said smugly. "Or at least gotten a _hit_ in."

 _Sure you could have.._ River thought to herself sarcastically.

"Whatever, no one cares!" Clara said trying to keep the peace between them. "Why don't we talk about the weather!."

"Well, we're gonna go. We've got studying to do." said Finn.

"Oh my gosh, we still have to do that extra essay for grimm studies!" River exclaimed. "Thanks for reminding us. Gotta go, too. Bye!"

Team RECK found a study room in the library and they went inside and locked the door behind them.

"We should have done this last night!" Ember groaned. "We're gonna have to pull an all-nighter to finish this."

"We have it way worse than you. You're actually smart." Kiara mumbled

"Ya, well I guess I was a very dedicated little child. I had every text book that Hank gave me memorized at some point…" Ember put a hand to her chin, thoughtfully. "And you're smart too Kiara." She patted the doubtful girl's shoulder.

"Hey, aren't you gonna study?" Clara asked her partner, who she noticed was staring at the wall.

"What?" Their leader snapped out of her trance. "Ya, sure." She said half-heartedly. She was frowning.

"River, seriously. What's wrong?"

River turned to her team with a growl of frustration. "I can't do this anymore! I'm sick of this forgotten past."

No One spoke for a moment.

"Then let's fix it." Clara said.

"Wh-what? You can't just fix it. I don't know how."

"Sure we do. You said that you think those gems on your head are what's keeping you from your memories. So we'll take them off."

"B-but how? It hurts like hell when I try."

"River." Clara leaned closer. Her voice lowered. "Do you want to get your memories back or not?"

River was silent for a moment. Backing up she said, "F-fine, but not here."

"Okay, let's go back to the dorm then." Ember said.

They gathered up their things and headed out of the library. When they got into their dorm they locked the door.

"Sit down." Clara said.

"What are you going to use to get them off?" Kiara asked as she pulled River's hair out of the way of the gems.

"Hmm, I have a pair of tweezers. One second let me get them." Clara said, going to her bags and digging through them. "Got them."

River flinched as Clara bent down to study the gems on River's forehead. "Let's try to get that one on the far left off first." She said, almost to herself.

When the metal touched the side of the gem and tugged on it, River gasped and bent over in pain. Clara's hand slipped and the metal scratched the surface of the gem, River screamed in agony and clutched her head. She fell off the chair and went to her knees. The world flashed white around her before her and suddenly it was like she was inside of her head. She was watching the cars flashing by from the top of a building. Then behind her a boy, no a young man, probably in his teens, took her hand and stepped beside her. He had dark hair and wolf ears. He smiled warmly at her. She felt her chest flutter...

The rest of River's body slipped to the ground. Her vision went dark.

"River? I'm so sorry we shouldn't have done that!" Clara exclaimed rushing toward her. "Riv? You okay? River?" Clara asked, shaking River. When River didn't respond they all rushed forward and bent down beside her. They pushed her onto her back and realized that she was unconscious.

"Uh, this is kind of bad. Should we bring her to the infirmary or something?" Ember asked.

"Yeah, let me call them on my scroll, because I have no idea how we're going to bring her." Clara said, already dialing the number. She got up and stepped away from the others.

"Yes, please come quick, our teammate is unconscious. This is Clara James, first year student. No. Yes, um, room 240. Okay, thank you." Clara put her scroll away. "They're bringing a stretcher." she informed her team.

Kiara bit her lip and Ember started pacing the room.

"What are we supposed to tell them?" Kiara asked

Everyone was silent.

Ember stopped pacing. "This isn't good."

 **A/N: Hey guys, how was this chapter? We recognize that some of dialogue and scenes don't flow as well as they could but over all we're pretty satisfied. Hope you're having a great day! See ya next time.**

 **-Jay**


	12. Chapter 12: Crashing the Class

**A/N: Hey ya'll, how's it going? I gotta say, this chapter was** _ **SO**_ **much fun to write. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Happy reading!**

 **-Ren**

Ember, Clara, and Kiara leaderlessy made their way to their Grimm studies class. River had woken up, but the infirmary had made her stay for the day just to be safe.

It had been a challenge to make up a story for the nurses, and to get them to keep away from River's temples, but they had managed it.

"Now to deal with that jerkface, Professor Dante." Clara grumbled. She opened the classroom door for her teammates.

"Decided to join us this time? Where is Miss Bay?" Their teacher immediately began to interrogate them the minute they stepped foot through the door. He seemed to especially hate their team.

"She's in the infirmary." Ember told him, her ears flattened. She hated this man but he never ceased to intimidate her.

"A likely story. I have heard a million excuses for tardiness but this is crossing the line. If you four can not seem to pull yourselves together I will have to expel you from this classroom." He swiftly turned on his heel and strode away.

Ember's mouth opened in exasperated shock. "We haven't done anything that any other student hasn't done! I swear he's trying to get us kicked out of this school."

"Whatever, let's get this class over with" Clara lead her teammates to their seats. Finn was waving at them.

Ember smiled at him and slipped into the seat next to him. If anything, Finn would be able to brighten her mood.

"Where's River?" He gave her an encouraging shoulder nudge. He knew this was her least favorite class. Well, more like everyone's least favorite class.

She shushed him before whispering, "She's in the infirmary. I'll explain later."

"Infirmary?" Finn's eyes widened.

But just then the Professor began his lecture."Vacuo, having the most rugged land of the four kingdoms, has some of the most savage grimm ever found…"

"Later." Clara repeated.

R…..E…..C…..K

"We have history next. Professor Scarlatina is the best; complete opposite of Dante." Ember was walking backwards down the hallway, facing her friends. They had just finished their 10 a.m. class.

"Ya, I love her. History has never been more interesting." Kiara agreed.

"And she's the first Faunus teacher at Beacon. That's a huge step for us. It shows that the Faunus are finally getting some respect, and it makes me feel wonderful." Ember said happily.

"I think she's the youngest teacher too. I heard that her team graduated just two years ago."

They entered the classroom and found where the rest of team RYFL was already sitting.

"Hi!" Lola waved excitedly. "We're all together in this class! Wait, where's Riv?"

"Infirmary. She's okay, but I think she should tell you what happened; If she's comfortable with it that is." Clara told them.

Finn frowned, "Geez! Something big must have happened to her. You guys really won't let up."

"Miss Scarlatina, were we supposed to do that dust history essay this week or next?" A boy from the row in front of them asked.

The two teams turned their attention to their professor, who had just walked into the door.

The tall brunette blushed and flattened her long rabbit ears. "I told you guys, just call me Velvet. And the essay is due next week." She said in her cute accent.

"Oh, thank goodness." The boy responded.

"Hey, are you dating anyone Velvet?" a boy yelled from the back. He looked like a senior.

Velvet blushed harder. "A-alright, It's time to start class now..." She avoided the question. "Today we'll be talking about Atlas and Mistral's relationship during the Great War."

Suddenly a young woman in expensive badass clothing and dark sunglasses walked through the door. "Seriously Velvs? That's sooo boring. I expected more from you."

"Coco!" Velvet cried in surprise. "W-what are you doing here? I thought you were in Vacuo for some fashion show."

"I got back early because I am here to help with the missions. And I'm also here to help with the V-" She stopped herself "Top secret awesome thing that is going to happen in a couple months."

"Oh, okay." Velvet sighed. She turned to the class. "Everyone, I would like you of meet Coco Adel. She was the leader of my team when we were in Beacon."

The whole room was suddenly filled with the whispers of curious students, and they were all talking about the same thing "Coco Adel? The famous fashion designer?"

Coco spoke up. "Okay everyone, we are gonna learn something even more interesting than… umm what were you gonna teach them again?" The fashionista asked, looking at her friend.

"The relationship between Atlas and Mistral in the time of the Great War." The brunette answered.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter, you can teach them that tomorrow. Today we are gonna talk about... umm, fashion!" Coco made jazz hands. "Because I'm stupid and I don't remember any of the stuff they teach in here."

"Why would we learn about fashion?" Yatsohide asked, clearly annoyed at the young woman for interrupting his studies (He was probably the only one), "This is history class."

"Hey, don't sass me child. Besides, everything has history. Even fashion. So.. why not learn the history of fashion." Coco said shrugging and walking up to the chalkboard behind Velvet.

"Coco, this is a real class!" Velvet tried to argue with her teammate and best friend. "You can't just come in here and fool around. These kids need to learn. This is _my_ class."

"Exactly, Hun-Bun. Where you rule, I rule. We're a team." Coco slapped the frustrated bunny girl on the butt as she made her way to her way to the chalkboard.

Velvet squealed in surprise but sat down in her chair. She was used to her leader's antics. She would just have to sit through this until Coco got bored.

Coco drew a female figure up on the board. She paused for a moment before smirking and adding rabbit ears to it.

"The problem today with fashion is that people are getting too bored, too fast. They get crazier and crazier with their need to stand out. So I like to think of random themes and try to incorporate them into a design. It makes designing a lot of fun too. Now, someone name a kitchen utensil."

Ember's hand shot up. "I know this one! A spatula?" She answered.

Coco clapped her hands together. "Brilliant! Genius! Why didn't I think of that? Ladies and gentlemen we are in the presence of a true designer in training."

Velvet rolled her eyes from where she was sitting. "Enough sarcasm Coco."

Coco lowered her dark sunglasses and winked at her old

teammate. "You're no fun today Velvs." She looked back at the class. "Anyone else have any ideas?

Braxton from team BLCK raised his hand. " 'Scuse me Miss, but are we making a design for human or faunus?" He asked.

"Is there a difference?" The older girl dead-panned at the boy.

"Well, you know." Braxton smirked. "There's just a difference in the qualities of… species and such."

Coco knew what the stuck-up, racist boy was getting at. She squinted at him before smiling back.

"You're right. I've always felt that some of the greatest designs have been from Faunus. They really seem to have a better eye for this kind of work. But, you know, we're all great in different ways."

Braxton scowled at the comeback but chose not to retaliate.

By the time the bell rang five different outfits had been drawn on the board, all with a different type of style and different utensils.

Lola's idea had been an egg-beater as a scepter. No one thought that it counted as an article of clothing, but Coco said that it was an accessory and that 'All outfits need an accessory'.

"Told you so!" Lola said proudly as they all stood up to leave the classroom. "A scepter is an accessory, just as much as earrings are."

"I'll only be convinced of that the day I see everyone walking around with egg-beater scepters." Roxanna said, rolling her eyes.

"Thanks for class Velvet and Coco!" Ember called to the two friends, who were talking and erasing the chalkboard.

"It's time for lunch and study break." Finn stretched his arms above his head and smiled.

"I guess we can go to the library to study, or do whatever." Clara suggested as they were walking.

"Sure! That's a great idea!" Lola answered.

"Cool with me." Roxanna shrugged.

R…..E…..C…..K

Teams RECK and RYFL were sitting around in the library. Roxanna, Kiara, and Lola were on a couch, and Yatso was on a chair beside it. Ember was sitting cross-legged on the floor reading a book and Finn was dozing off, his head in her lap. Clara was sitting at a small table close by. She was drawing something in a notebook, and colored pencils were scattered across the table.

"So did you guys finish the extra homework that you said that you had?" Yatso asked Ember, Kiara, and Clara.

"Yes, we turned it in, but Dante said he was going to doc River's points because she didn't give it to him in person." Clara responded. She added a few angry strokes to her piece of paper "That-" She bit her tongue to keep from cursing.

"I swear! As soon as I get out of this school the first thing I'll do is hunt him down!" Ember growled softly, careful not to wake Finn. She flipped a page of her book.

"Whatcha drawing, Clara?" Lola leaned off the couch and tried to peak over Clara's shoulder.

"Nothing." Clara quickly shut the book she had been sketching in.

"No, I saw it! It looked amazing! Lemme see!" Lola tried to snatch at the book but Clara blocked her.

"Clara, if you want to be an artist you have to show people your work." Roxanna pointed out.

Clara hesitated, but then slowly opened the notebook for them to see. A beautiful and elaborate scene took place on the crisp paper. A small waterfall flowed into a pond. The sun was reflecting off of the water, sending a beautiful rainbow across the page. Trees with golden orange leaves cast light shadows on a small, fresh patch of grass that was seen beside the pond.

"Omigosh! Clara that's so pretty! I didn't know you were that good at drawing." Kiara exclaimed.  
"Seriously Clara. How could you keep this from us? You've got mad skills!" Roxanna praised her friend.

"Thanks," an embarrassed Clara mumbled.

Lola successfully snatched the sketchbook from Clara's hands this time and flipped through it.

"Hey! It's me! You made me look super pretty!" Lola fawned over the picture of herself. "Look at my awesome eyeshadow!"

"Am I in there?" Roxanna asked.

"Ya, look" Lola flipped to the next page and showed her friend.

"Awesome! I look so badass! You drew my katana." Roxanna smirked and nodded her head in approval.

"Here's Ember and Finn! You drew them together? Wait where's Yatso?"

"Oh. I still have to draw him and Kiara." Clara said nervously. "I was going to do that next."

"You're seriously a super talented artist, Clara!" Ember complimented.

Her hand absentmindedly made its way to her faunus companion's soft hair.

The half-asleep boy instinctively leaned in to her touch and sighed in content. Ember's tail twitched and she tried to keep a steady breath. She slowly looked around. Her friends were still wrapped up in Clara's sketchbook and hadn't seemed to notice anything.

The girl looked back at her...friend? She became overwhelmed by his adorable, sleepy, happy-looking (did she mention adorable?) presence. How could one person be so cute? He made her stomach flutter. He made her feel happy, nervous, and excited all at the same time. She felt her face begin to burn and tried to calm down. But all seemed lost when a deep rumbling sound escaped the boy's chest.

 _I-is he?_ She listened again and noticed the boy's happily twitching tail. Ember squeaked and immediately buried her face bright red face in her book.

Finn was purring. It was very rare that a cat faunus purred past a young age. It was immensely looked down upon by racist humans. But besides that, it showed that the faunus was very relaxed, very trustful (Or too sleepy to care), and _very_ happy. In other words, it didn't happen often.

Ember cautiously ran her fingers through his hair again. Finn rubbed against her hand and purred louder. Ember's heart skipped a beat. She completely forgot about her teammates, lost in the boy's cuteness. She grinned a mile wide and gently scratched his head.

"More…." The sleeping boy mumbled happily.

"Umm...Ember?" River said walking up behind them.

Ember snapped her head up.

"River!" Everyone else said at the same time.

"Hi. They discharged me from the infirmary." River looked at her friends cautiously. "Did you tell them what happened?" she asked, nervously.

"No, we thought it would be better if you did." Ember was now sitting very rigid, completely conscious of Finn who had just woken up.

The boy yawned and accidently rolled out of Ember's lap and onto her tail. "Your tail is so fluffy!" He wrapped his arms around it and buried his face into it.

"Yeees! It's so soft!" Kiara exclaimed.

"Oh, yeah, I guess it pretty cool." Ember said smiling shyly at him.

Finn seemed to realize what he was doing and lifted his head. "S-sorry! Is this weird? I can stop. Are you okay with this?"

Both of their faces burned red. "M-my tail is your pillow anytime." Ember responded awkwardly.

Finn grinned and rubbed his face against her tail again.

River interrupted their moment. "Okay, can you do that another time, maybe?"

"Uh, sorry." Ember blushed.

"Can someone tell us what happened to River? Because I've been waiting and no one will talk." Yatsohide said.

Everyone looked at River expectantly.

River sighed, "I...we tried to remove the gems on my forehead. We thought that, maybe, if we got rid of them I would remember my past. Yeah, well that was a terrible idea. They obviously were made so that I'll probably get killed trying to remove them. " River tried to explain. She looked at her teammates. "When you touch the gems it hurts like hell. It feels like someone is smashing my skull. "

"Ingenious! I would love to meet the inventor." Yatsohide gripped his chin in thought. "But I don't understand how these crystals work. They must be dust influenced. Is this all the information you have for us? Do you remember any other details?"

River closed her eyes. "Before I passed out from pain, I… I saw a glimpse of what I think was a memory from my past."

"What!?" Everyone exclaimed staring at her.

"What did you see?" Clara asked.

"I was standing on top of a building. I felt a hand take mine and I looked over to see a boy. He looked about my age. He was a wolf Faunus." River frowned. "I don't know why but he smiled at me. And he seemed so familiar. I must have been super close to him. "

Everyone stayed quiet. River looked at the ground, "Um… that's all I remember."

"You got a glimpse of your memory back from the scratch I gave you? If we can find a way to get rid of the pain we could find a way to handle the gems better." Clara suggested.

"I think that the way you handled this was very stupid." Yatsohide crossed his arms. "Something this big shouldn't be taken care of in such a light manner. What if you had killed her?"

The others were silent. They hadn't thought of that.

Yatsohide continued, "We should take this matter to professionals. There has to be _some_ sort of information on this."

"Are you kidding me?" River cried. "What do you expect me to tell them? 'Hey there! I ran away from my home and became a juvenile delinquent, and now I have these rocks on my head that keeping me from remembering the last six years of my life, but don't question any of it'. That sounds like an excellent conversation starter."

"I don't think that it would be a good idea to tell them that." Yatsohide furrowed his brows

"She was being sarcastic you idiot." Roxanna hit him in the back of the head.

"Besides, I'm not going to have my brain picked apart for 'science'." River scowled.

"Okay. So cross that idea off the list. But what else can we do?" Kiara asked.

"There's nothing _to_ do. We'll just have to find out about River's past in another way." Ember said.

"What are you talking about?" Lola asked. She had stayed surprisingly silent up until then.

"I mean that instead waiting for River to remember her past, why don't we go looking for it ourselves.".

"How? We can't just leave Beacon and go on a journey through all of Vale asking 'Hey, have you ever seen this girl before, perhaps stealing from you?'" Finn pointed out.

Right then a voice said: " _Would all students please report to the main hall? All students report to the main hall. Thank you."_

Everyone in the library looked around before packing up and making their way out of the door and down to the main hall.

"Umm, okay then? Let's go." Roxanna stood up, quickly followed by the rest of her friends (And River).

"Looks like we'll have to figure this out later." Clara mumbled.

 **A/N: I guess we're leaving you guys on a cliffhanger, huh? Sorry about that. ...Well, not really. I guess you'll just have to wait until next week to find out what happens next! ;) See you then!**

 **Jay, Ren, Em, and Mau**


	13. Chapter 13: Announcements and Nightmares

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's another nice long chapter for you. Happy reading!**

 **-Em**

Qrow and several of the professors of Beacon Academy stood on the stage in the main hall of Beacon. Qrow walked up to a microphone clad podium and cleared his throat before saying, "Hello students of Beacon. The reason I called you all in here is not for a boring announcement. Well, it is an announcement, but not a boring one!"

"Uuh...Okay?" Clara whispered to her team.

Qrow continued, "First things first. I know that some of you are already aware of this, but the school is currently holding shadowing missions. This year we'll be killing two birds with one stone by having some of the seniors be shadow-ees of freshman shadow-ers. Also, please refrain from killing any birds with stones unless you are certain that bird isn't me."

Everyone laughed.

"If you are a Sophomore or Junior you can not accompany a Senior, as the age gap won't be wide enough. We want you to learn something _new_ on these missions.

"Sign-ups will start tomorrow and will last for two days until Saturday evening. I suggest you sign up sooner rather than later if you want a decent mission."

The room started buzzing with chatter about the missions.

"Should we shadow a senior or a real huntsman?" Kiara asked.

"A real huntsman, duh! They'll be way cooler!" River answered.

"I don't think we get to choose." Yatsohide straightened his glasses.

Qrow spoke again, "Settle down kids. I have something even more exciting to tell you." The noise slowly died down.

"Now." Qrow put his hands on either side of the podium and leaned into the microphone. "This would usually never happen so soon after what happened at the last one. And especially not at the same school,"

Everyone waited in anticipation.

Qrow continued, "But this year, our Beacon Academy will be holding the biannual National Vytal Festival!"

For a moment the room was silent. Then it erupted in deafening cheers.

"Even I know about the Vytal Festival!" River exclaimed happily over the noise.

"Yes, it's a fantastic event held between the the four nations of Remnant. It is a way to unite the world with special events like balls, markets that sell all sorts of cultural items, and biggest of all, the Vytal Tournament." Yatsohide spouted.

"Aw yeah! This is the second one us seniors have had here!" A boy yelled.

Qrow silenced the students. "We have not had a Vytal Festival since the… unfortunate happenings a few years ago." Qrow said, choosing his words carefully. "The other school's decided that we should host this one to make up for the last one. And to celebrate the reopening of Beacon tower."

The seniors all nodded and frowned. The last tournament had ended with all of Beacon and Vale nearly destroyed by the White Fang and Salem.

"I would recommend you start training if you wish to compete in the tournament. We'll get back to you with the date of the qualification tests. I encourage all of you to work on your teamwork skills and be familiar with each of your teammates style, as well as solo skills. Be prepared for any situation with any are dismissed."

The chatter immediately began to swell again.

Qrow shouted over the noise, "Remember to sign up for the shadowing missions. Good afternoon." Qrow turned and walked off the stage.

"It's evening." Clara dead-panned.

"Well, that was interesting." Roxanna said.

"And awesome!" Lola exclaimed. "Now we have to work super hard so that we can qualify! We'll train night and day; in the pouring rain and scorching sun. We'll achieve ultimate power and defeat all who stand in out way! We will be famous! We will be glorious! And no one will be able to stop us! Mwahaha!"

"It's not just the tournament." Ember pointed out. "There's gonna be a bunch of parties and stuff too. And the exchange students are gonna start rolling in."

"Yeah, that'll be interesting. But can we go to bed? I'm exhausted." Finn yawned and almost fell on top of River and Clara.

"Yeah, we noticed." Clara said.

The two teams followed the slow trickle of students flowing out the door and to their dormitories.

R…..E…..C…..K

Team RECK had gotten ready for sleep and were now sitting on their beds, talking. Kiara and River were sitting on Kiara's bed. Clara had pulled up a chair next to them. Ember was lying on her stomach, in her bed, her tail wrapped around her waist like a fluffy blanket. Her head was in her arms and her eyes were closed.

"So these mission thingys." Kiara started quietly. "What are you guys thinking about doing?"

"I kind of want to shadow a detective or something. We could wear trench coats and fedoras. And play mysterious old timey music while narrating everything that happens." River said. She narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice, "It was a dark stormy night. I was working a late shift at the office, and I knew from the start that there was somthing off. Something dark. Something mysterious. I could smell the crime in the air. Or maybe it was just the smell of my toaster waffles burning."

Clara laughed. "Yeah, that would be funny. If there is a mission like that left for us."

"Didn't Qrow say that we had to go with a Senior team?" Kiara asked frowning.

"No, he said that we _could_ go with a Senior team, but that we don't have to." Clara answered.

"I don't want to be with seniors. They'll just treat us like we're idiots and they'll act like they know everything." River scowled.

"Remember why Coco was in class? She said that she came for the missions. I hope that we get to shadow her team." Clara said. "They're really awesome huntsmen."

"Ember, you haven't said anything. What do you think?" River asked. They all turned to their friend. But she wasn't there.

"Ember? Where'd she go?" Kiara asked.

"Is she in the bathroom?" Asked Clara.

"No. I'm pretty sure one of us would have seen her if she got up and walked across the room."

"Oof! What the-"

Something heavy fell across River and Kiara's laps.

"Aah! Get it off! What is it?!" Kiara screamed.

Suddenly Ember appeared on top of them. She yelped and fell to the ground.

"What the heck, Ember?" River laughed. "What was that?"

"Sorry! I-I think I was sleepwalking." Ember rolled up into a sitting position, her legs sprawled out in front of her. "I used to do that a lot as a kid. I thought I had broken the habit." She rubbed the back of her neck.

"So I'm guessing you activated your invisibility semblance in your sleep too? That is not a good combination." Clara crossed her arms.

"Tell me about it. Once I walked right out my front door and out into the street. The neighbors found me in their house chopping onions," Ember groaned at the memory and rubbed her sore backside. "I'm going to go to sleep for real this time. I can't keep my eyes opeee-" She broke off in a yawn.

"Um… But what if you sleep walk again?" River asked.

"Oh, I don't sleep walk if something is covering me. Like a blanket." Ember climbed into her bed.

"Really? That's all it takes? Whatever, I want to sleep too. Tomorrow is friday and that means tests!" Clara said, already climbing up the bunk.

"Good night," Kiara said.

"'Night." River yawned and climbed u[ to her bed.

Ember turned out the light and soon the room was quiet except for the sound of rythmic breathing.

R…..E…..C….K

Kiara's skin felt hot against the burning flames.

"Dad!" She called out. She coughed and shielded her eyes from the ash and dust. She took a step forward. Something crunched beneath her feet. A skull was lying in the burnt rubble. Kiara inhaled sharply, causing her to gag and choke on the smoky air.

She noticed someone walking towards her.

"River?" She shouted. "Where's my dad?"

"I know where he is." River answered.

"Where?" Kiara stumbled closer to her.

River didn't answer.

"Where?!" Kiara yelled.

"I can't tell you." River told her.

"Kiara!"

Kiara whipped around. "Clara!"

"Kiara, help!" Clara pleaded. Something must have been wrong.

"Clara? What is it?"

"I need your help!" She yelled. Her face was full of panic.

"What? What do I do?"

"Help me! He's coming!"

"Who? Who's coming?" Kiara started to panic as well. This wasn't right. Something was really wrong.

"He's coming! You have to help!" Tears were streaming down Clara's face.

Kiara looked at her distraught teammate in despair. "I-I don't know what you're talking about. What's happening? Where's my dad?!"

"Help me, Kiara! Help me!"

"I-I can't! I can't help you." Kiara was now crying as well.

Clara suddenly screamed. Something grabbed her and pulled her into the darkness.

"Clara!" Kiara screamed after her. "Clara come back!" She chased after her. She ran and ran but all she found was more destroyed homes. More burnt down houses.

Kiara stopped running and sank to the ground in defeat. Tears were streaming from her eyes. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I wasn't strong enough."

 **...**

Kiara woke with a start. It was pitch black. She was doused in her own sweat. Her eyes were wet from the tears that she had shed in her sleep. Her sheets were tangled around her legs.

Kiara closed her eyes and took a deep shuddering breath. It was just a dream.

This was normal for her. But it didn't make her hate them any less. Why did this happen to her? Why couldn't she be strong enough?

She wiped another stray tear that ran down her cheek and looked around the room. She could just make out Ember's slim figure in the bed across from hers. She could hear River and Clara's soft breathing. She sighed. _Good. I don't want to worry them with this. They'll just get upset over it._

Kiara fixed her sheets and lay back down. There was no way she would fall back asleep now.

She sighed. _Another restless night._ She thought.

R…..E…..C….K

"Hello everyone." said professor Goodwitch as students slowly streamed into the room. "Everybody find a seat so we may begin."

"Where should we sit?" Clara asked as team RECK entered the room.

"I guess in the far corner with team RYFL." Kiara responded already heading that way. The rest of her team followed. They said their hellos to team RYFL and sat down. Ember and Finn were sitting next to each other as usual.

River sighed. _So obvious yet so clueless._

"So, how are things going?" Lola asked cheerfully.

"We're pretty good. Just lots of homework." River responded.

"Ugh, us too. That's all we've been doing in our spare time." Roxanna said rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"I know! I wish-" Kiara got cut off by the professor who started her lecture.

"Today we will cover extra tips to beat your opponent when in hand-to-hand combat. You may not always have your weapon with you in a fight, so it is a critical part of being a huntsman to learn these skills. That means that in today's duels you are not allowed to use your weapons. But, you are permitted to use your semblance." Goodwitch said looking at the teens. "Any questions?"

No one said anything.

"Good. Let's see who the randomizer chooses first for today." Behind her the screens started scrolling past pictures of students.

The first one stopped on Finn's face.

"Finn Yuko of team RYFL." Professor Goodwitch second screen stopped. "And Gregory Anglo of team SERG."

"Yes! This is right up my ally!" Finn cheered as he jumped up. He walked down to the arena where he was met by a very muscular boy. The boy had a wide frame which made him a natural at smashing things, including people's faces. He had dark gray hair and brown eyes. Finn walked up to him and shook his hand. They both smirked, then they got into positions.

The see-through casing came up around the arena and three screens started counting down. _3...2...1…_

As soon as the bell rang the boy called Gregory charged at Finn. Finn was caught off guard, but slid swiftly out of the way just in time and side-kicked the running boy in the back, sending him crashing to the ground.

The gray haired boy quickly shoved himself up and spun back around to face Finn. Finn was already charging at the boy again. Gregory readied himself to block a blow but Finn skidded to a stop just before he did anything. Gregory, who was thoroughly confused, lowered his guard just a fraction. But that was enough for Finn.

Finn kicked his opponent in the shins with the bottom of his foot, then swiped his leg behind him, knocking him off his feet again. He then grabbed a fistfull of the boy's shirt and lifted his entire body off the ground before slamming it back down.

The class gasped. Gregory must have weighed somewhere close to 200 pounds.

As Finn backed up the boy groaned and rose shakily off the ground again. He got into fighting stance, bringing his fists back up.

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" Finn copied his stance. The other boy rushed at Finn again. This time he was prepared. When Finn slipped past him he used the momentum he had and spun around in roundhouse kick, catching Finn in the head.

Finn growled and regained his posture, rubbing his cheek.

When Gregory came back around, Finn grabbed his foot in mid-kick and punched the boy in the throat. He then jumped and spun around to gather strength and slammed his foot in the gagging boy's chest, sending him flying across the arena.

"Winner is Finn Yuko." Goodwitch announced.

The casing around the arena vanished and Finn smiled and walked out to greet his friends.

"Finn that was awesome!" Ember hugged him.

"I didn't know you could fight that well." Roxanna punched him playfully in the arm. "And I see you used your semblance; Super strength."

"Yes. I noticed that you used a combination of fighting styles." Yatsohide said with wide eyes. "It is very difficult to learn multiple styles and keep them all separate from each other. It gives a major advantage in a fight."

Finn rubbed the back of his neck. "That's just the way I was trained. I come from a long line of warriors like that." He said.

"Your face!" said Ember, who had kept her arms around him, lifted a hand up and gently touched his cheek where he had been kicked. "Do you need ice? I can get you some. Let me get you some." She started to let go of him.

"Ember." Finn grabbed her hands. "It's fine, really. My aura will take care of it."

They looked into each others eyes. Hers were filled with worry. His were filled with reassurance.

"Kiara Sapphire from team RECK." The two snapped out of it as Goodwitch called the next competitors. "And Braxton Hazaun from team BLCK"

"M-me?" Kiara squeaked. "Against that guy?"

"And without her weapon! He's gonna crush her!" cried Lola.

"You're not helping you know!" River hissed at her.

"Kiara Sapphire?" The professor called out again.

"They're waiting for you. I'm sure you'll do fine!" Ember gave her partner a hug.

Kiara swallowed and slowly walked towards the battle arena.

"Shake hands now. We don't have all day." Professor Goodwitch motioned with her hand for them to hurry up.

Kiara slowly put out her hand to Braxton who grabbed it and tried to crush it.

Kiara squeaked and pulled her hand back. Braxton smirked.

"Crush him, Kiara!" Clara yelled angrily.

The two got into their stances as the see-through barrier was activated.

 _Concentrate, Kiara!_ She thought. _The steps. Just think about the steps! Left foot back. Right arm fro- No! I don't have my sword._

The starting bell pierced the air, startling Kiara. Braxton rushed at her, completely catching her off guard. She barely dodged a punch that he threw at her and shoved her elbow into his face. Braxton gasped and grabbed her arm, flinging her into the wall.

Kiara shook her head and crawled to her feet.

"Kiara, use your semblance!" Ember called out from her seat.

 _M-my semblance. Right._ She turned to Braxton. He ran at her again. Right when she was about to fly, she hesitated. She hadn't had her semblance for long and sometime had a hard time with it. What if she couldn't control it?

The hesitation was enough for Braxton to kick her in the gut and punch her face, forcing her against the wall.

Kiara felt like she was about to throw-up. She felt something warm and sticky ooze down her face. Her nose was bleeding. She groaned and tried to stand again.

"Kiara! Use. Your. Semblance. SEMBLANCE!" An annoyed River shouted at her teammate. She didn't like to see her friends hurt.

"Yes. S-semblance." Kiara mumbled through the blood that was gushing from her nose.

"Time to die, little girl." Braxton smirked.

Kiara tried to concentrate and use her semblance. Braxton was coming at her again. She took a deep breath and braced herself. She gathered her aura and prepared to activate her semblance. She could feel her strength gathering, but she wasn't very confident.

Braxton swung his arm back to deliver a blow.

Kiara panicked. _I can't do it! I'm not strong enough!_

Braxton got the shot in easy. Kiara fell to the ground again.

"Winner is Braxton Hazaun." Goodwitch called out.

"Ha, that was an easy fight. I don't know how you got in, but you don't belong here. Why don't you go cry? Seems that's the only thing you're good at." Braxton let go of where he had grabbed Kiara's shirt and she fell to the ground.

Crying was what Kiara was close to. Not only from the pain she felt all over her body but from anger and disappointment in herself.

"It looks like we won't have enough time for another fight. Class dismissed." Their professor turned to gather her things and leave.

"Kiara! Are you okay?" Her friends ran up to her.

"I-I...I'm f-fine." Kiara said quietly, trying to hold back tears.

As Braxton walked past on the way to his own team, he shoved his shoulder into Kiara's, knocking her off-balance. River glared at him as she and the rest of the group of friends comforted their friend. Kiara couldn't keep her tears in anymore. They streamed down her face as Ember hugged her.

"Why didn't you use your semblance?" River asked. Her anger at Braxton came out at Kiara.

"'Cause she's a dumb insignificant kid who could never be a huntress." Braxton said loudly. His posse was now behind him with smirks on their faces.

"Shut up you frickin jerkface!" Clara screamed at him.

"Or else what?" asked Kassandra, his teammate.  
"You wanna get your legs broken?" River growled.

Braxton rolled his eyes. "Wow. Such a threat coming from a useless team like yours."

"They're not all useless." Larson smirked. "The purty one would make a nice pet." He looked at Ember and winked.

"Don't talk to her like that you creep!" Finn stepped between him and Ember.

"What? Is she taken?" Larson asked. He turned to Ember, "Are you?"

"N-no." Ember replied nervously.

"Then I can speak to her however I want to. She's up for grabs isn't she?"

Finn grabbed Ember's wrist protectively, "She's not an object. You better respect her, or I'll punch you so hard your face turns inside out!" He yelled.

"Shut up you moron. I can claim her if I want. Isn't that right sweetheart?" He turned to Ember again. "Tell you what. You get rid of this guy and you can have me all to yourself." He grinned psychotically and ran a hand threw his long, greasy, blond hair.

"U-um, Finn?" Ember squeezed up to Finn, trying to hide behind him. She gripped his hand tightly.

"You said you're not her boyfriend, now move out of the way." Larson scowled at Finn and tried to move past him.

Finn's face turned red with anger.

"Get away, you pervert!" Clara yelled from behind them.

Suddenly Finn turned and grabbed Ember's shoulders and pulled her close. He planted his lips on top of her shining auburn hair, right between her fox ears. His tail wrapped around her waist, blocking Larson from her. Ember squeaked in surprise.

"Idiot! Let's get out of here." Braxton pulled Larson and the rest of his team out of the already deserted classroom.

Finn seamed to realize what he was doing and released Ember.

"S-sorry!" He yelled. He stared at Ember in shock, before dashing out of the classroom as well.

"Okay then…." River raised an eyebrow. She looked at Ember, who was bright red and frozen to the spot.

"Ember? Y-you okay?" Kiara asked through the blood that was still coming from her nose.

Ember didn't move. She stared at the wall. "I….I..."

"Yeah okay, who wants to help me drag her to our next class?" Clara asked.

"He...I…"

River sighed, "Let's go."

 **A/N: Well, Kiara's self-confidence is going down the drain and Finn broke Ember. Isn't this fun? Can't wait to show you what's next!**

 **-Jay**


	14. Chapter 14: Faunus Facts

**A/N: Hey guys, here the next part. Happy reading!**

"Ember, you have to do your homework." River flicked Ember on the head.

River, Ember, and Clara were in their dorm room. Kiara had gone to the infirmary to "Get an ice pack". The team had done their best to comfort her, but they thought it was best to leave her alone for a bit. They had finished their last class of the day and had headed to their room to do their homework in peace. Except for Ember. She was just staring down at her books.

"You'll have to face him at some point." River pointed out.

"Ugg, I still don't see what the big deal is. It wasn't even a real kiss." Clara mumbled.

Ember sighed and looked at her friends. "Maybe for you."

"What's that supposed to mean? River asked

"Well...I mean...W-we're Faunus." Ember fiddled with her pencil.

"Yeah?" River motioned with her hand for Ember to continue.

"A-and Faunus have a few...well...other ways to show their...um, affection and stuff."

"Oh. Well what did it mean?" Clara asked, confused.

"F-for a faunus...a kiss on the head has a bit more meaning then a normal one. I-it's like….a step up."

"What do you mean? How?"

Ember covered her face with her hands. "I mean it's kind of...territorial? I don't know how to explain it. It probably wouldn't make sense to you guys. Basically it kind of sends the message 'This is mine.'"

"Um...wow. So Finn did that? And it meant that?" River asked.

"Y-yeah. Like I said, it has a pretty deep meaning. That's why it's so shocking."

"Well...It's pretty obvious you guys like each other. And I can see how he could do that after getting so riled up." River said

"Ya, it's kind of annoying how you two are dodging around each other. Just get together already." Clara said, annoyed.

"So wait. Is that the only thing that's different for faunus or are there more?" River asked curiously.

"Oh there's a ton more." Ember said, grateful for the slight distraction. "But it kind of varys with the species. You know. Like cats and dogs. They have different ways of communicating."

"Okay, now I'm gonna look up the different communications of cats and foxes." River pulled out her scroll excitedly.

"What?! No!" Ember squealed she jumped to try and grab River's scroll but Clara blocked her.

"Nope. You've been keeping this from us too long. Now it's payback time!" Clara grinned evilly. It wasn't often that she participated in this kind of thing with her teammates but this opportunity was to big to miss.

Ember fell on her bed in defeat. "Stooop. You jerks." She groaned.

River was already looking up cat behaviors. "Wait a minute, can Finn purr? No it couldn't be. That's just too much." She glanced at Ember. She noticed the girl's bright red face.

"Oh. My. Gosh. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! How could you keep that from us?! That is SO adorable!" River exclaimed. "Have you heard him purr?"

"Maybe?" The fox girl answered nervously.

"What?! When?!"

"Uuuh...W-when he was sleeping in my lap?"

" _You_ made him purr?! WHY AREN'T YOU TOGETHER YET?!"

"I-I don't know...I've never dated anyone before…" Ember mumbled. "And how am I supposed to face him now?!" The defeated girl fell face first into her pillow.

"Just talk to him. It's not like there's a chance he'll reject you." Clara pointed. "But please, when you're together try to refrain from any major PDA around me."

"Stop talking!" Ember shouted. "Aaaaa!" She slammed the pillow into her face repeatedly.

"Wait, it says here that cats blink slowly at each other to display affection." River lifted her head from her scroll. "So if Finn blinks a lot at Ember then he really likes her."

"No! That's not how it works!" Ember protested. "It's things like rubbing cheeks, or head butts, and stuff like that. Blinking means NOTHING!"

"This is really fun." River grinned.

"Seriously though Ember. The longer you wait to talk to him, the worse it'll get." Clara warned

"Fine!" Ember jumped off of her bed. "Fine! Fine! Fine! Just stop talking!" She quickly exited the room.

Clara and River looked at each other. "Where is Kiara?" River frowned. "She's still not back."

"Don't know, maybe she was kept late at the infirmary?" Clara shrugged. But she was starting to get worried herself. "I'm sure she'll be fine. She's just had a rough day."

River sighed, "I hope you're right."

R…..E…..C….K

Ember walked through the dorm hallway. The sun had set a while ago, and now it was lit by only the dim light bulbs. She had checked team RYFL's room, but Finn hadn't been there. Right now, Ember wasn't even sure if she still had the guts to talk to him.

"Oof!" Someone slammed into her, and she fell to the ground.

"S-sorry! Oh….Ember!" Finn stood there awkwardly. He offered her his hand. Ember gratefully took it, and he pulled her off the ground.

"This is kind of like how we met." Finn chuckled nervously.

"Yeah." Ember looked at her feet. They stood there in awkward silence for a minute.

"S-so, Finn." Ember began. "I-I wanted to talk to you...about earlier today.."

Finn turned red. "Look, Ember. I'm super sorry! I didn't mean to- I wasn't...I didn't mean it like- It was just-"

"I didn't mind it." Ember interrupted him.

"Y-you...didn't mind..." Finn repeated.

Ember blushed and took his hands in hers. "N-no. Finn?" She looked up at him.

"Yeah..." Finn got lost in her bright green eyes. He shook his head a little to regain composure. "Ember, I've been meaning to tell you. I… Well, what I mean is… I like you a lot, and I... " He looked at the ground and took one hand away from Ember to rub the back of his neck.

"Oh, I know." Ember replied.

Finn looked back up at her in shock. "What?"

"Well, yeah. It was kind of obvious." She smirked a little.

"Oh, well. Do you, maybe, wanna… Go somewhere together? I mean, only if you want to."

Ember giggled a little. "Of course, Finn."

"Really?" Finn lit up.

"Yes, you dummy." Ember couldn't handle his adorableness any longer. She wrapped her arms around his neck and nestled her cheek in his chest.

Finn froze with shock. Then he slowly melted into her as well. He put his cheek on top of her head and breathed in her scent. A deep rumble rose up his chest.

"You're cute when you purr." Ember sighed and smiled a mile wide.

"Mmm." Finn rubbed his cheek on her hair. Her ears flicked, tickling his face.

"Finn, we should get some sleep." Ember said. But she made no move to leave.

"Okay. But tomorrow is Saturday. Do you wanna go somewhere then, Kit?" The tiger boy reluctantly released her.

"I'll have to see." Ember immediately missed his warmth. "But I would like that." She smiled at him. "Goodnight, Finn." She stood on her tiptoes and gently kissed his cheek, before swiftly running back down the hallway and to her dorm room.

Finn slowly raised a hand to his cheek. He could still feel the warmth of Ember's lips.

R…..E…..C….K

The heat was so sweltering that it made Kiara's eyes water. She looked around her. She was inside a building, and there were flames everywhere.

"D-dad!?" She yelled. She tripped and fell onto the ashy ground. "I have to find my dad," she choked.

"I know where your dad is." River appeared suddenly, standing in the flames. "I have him."

"River? Why? Where is he?"

"You won't find him. You're not strong enough."

Suddenly they weren't inside the house anymore. They were surrounded by other burnt down buildings.

Clara appeared next to River. "He's coming! Kiara, help!" She exclaimed.

"Clara! Who's coming?" Kiara asked.

"She can't help you. She's too weak," River said to Clara.

"No, I can help! Just tell me what you need." Kiara cried.

"But you said it yourself, Kiara." A third figure appeared.

"Ember, what's going on? Help."

"See what I mean? You say you'll help, but then you go and ask for help yourself. You can't take a hit. You can't even take care of yourself." Ember threw her fist at Kiara's face. Kiara was knocked to the ground.

"Th-that's not true." Kiara's eyes teared up. "We have to work together. We're a team, right?"

"Kiara, a team helps each other. You can't help us. You're just worthless dirt." Clara kicked the ash that covered the ground, spewing it in Kiara's face.

"I-I'm trying! I'm trying to help!"

"Well stop trying. You're too late." Ember told her.

"What do you mean? Where's my dad?"

"He's there." River pointed to a skull lying in the ash.

"N-no. No, It can't be true!" She turned to her team. "You're lying! Please, tell me you're lying!" Tears blurred her vision. She sank to the ground.

River turned to walk away. "Sorry, Kiara. You weren't strong enough."

The three girls dissipated, and Kiara was left sitting in the ashes, alone.

"No…" She whispered. "NO!"

R…..E…..C….K

Ember's fox ears twitched. What was that sound? She pushed her hair out of her face and sat up in bed. Was someone… crying?

She rubbed her eyes. She could see almost perfectly in the dark with her faunus nightvision. Her ears flicked toward the noise.

"Kiara?" She asked softly. When had the girl come back to the dorm room?

"Ember?!" Kiara jumped a little. She quickly wiped her eyes and sniffed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were awake."

Ember frowned and walked over to her partner's bed. "Why are you sorry?"

"For… I don't know. For disturbing you."

Ember sat on Kiara's bed and wrapped her arms around her. "You have nothing to be sorry about. Now, what's wrong."

"I-It's nothing." Kiara tried to pull away.

"It's not nothing." Ember let Kiara pull away and looked at her. "C'mon. We're teammates. We're supposed to look out for each other."

"But what if _I_ can't look out for you?" Kiara asked.

Ember looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Kiara hiccuped. "It's nothing."

When Ember gave Kiara a look, Kiara sniffed and began to talk. "I-I've just been having some bad nightmares recently, that's all"

"I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" Ember asked gently

Kiara shook her head, "It's fine. I've had them my whole life since my dad died." A tear fell down her cheek. "I should be used to them by now!" She slammed her fist onto the desk beside her bed.

"Kiara, that's awful. No one should have to go through that every night. We can't control the way we think in dream. And we certainly can't control _what_ we dream."

"But what happens in my dreams are true!" she said angrily. "I've never been strong enough for the important things in life. I've never been there for the people I care about. My father is gone, and I was never there for him. It's as good as my fault he's dead."

Kiara how old were you when he died?" Ember asked.

"What does that matter? He's gone and he's never coming back."

"Just, how old were you?"

"I don't know. Six or seven."

Ember's brows furrowed, "Exactly. You were six years old. There was nothing you could have done. He loved you and you loved him, and there's nothing more he could've wanted."

"But I never _got_ to love him. I never got to care for him, I never got to grow up with him there beside me. I barely remember him anymore," Kiara sobbed.

"Then it's not your fault _._ What's done is done and there's absolutely _nothing_ you could have done about it."

Kiara wiped her face with the back of her hand. "But it's more than that. After my dad died… I've just always felt so weak and useless. Because no matter how hard I train now… He's never coming back. And these nightmares have happened so often that they're mixing with my real thoughts and memories, to the point where I can't tell what's real and what isn't. And that's what scares me the most. If I can't handle a nightmare, then what good will I be when it comes to the real thing? If I can't even win the fight in my mind then, how will I win the fight for real? I don't think I belong here. I may have passed a stupid test, but when it comes to a real fight, what will keep me from running then?"

"Kiara, you belong here! You are here to learn how to fight. To learn how to get stronger. And right now, you're holding yourself back. You've convinced yourself that you'll never make it before you've even tried. The world isn't perfect, and we'll never truly be safe, but isn't that why we train so hard? It's okay to be scared. Everyone is. But if you've already put a label on how how much you _think_ you're capable of, then how are supposed to get any better?"

Kiara looked at the ground. "I-I don't know."

"I'm really sorry about your past, Kiara." Ember said sincerely. "But you can't live in the past. You have to face what's in front of you now, right here. And you have to face it with your head up and shoulders back. Don't let anyone think they can change who you are." Ember said confidently.

When Kiara didn't say anything Ember said, "Can I at least hear you say that you'll try?"

Another hot tear rolled down Kiara's face. "I'll try."

Ember smiled. "Good. And if these dreams keep bothering you just tell me, okay? I will always be here for you."

Kiara gave a small smile. "Thanks Ember. You're a good partner."

"No, problem. I guess we should get back to bed, it's pretty late." Ember yawned.

"Yeah." Kiara sighed. She sleepily leaned into Ember's shoulder.

Ember gently slid the smaller girl off of her and laid her down, pulling the covers over her. Kiara leaned toward Ember, not wanting to lose her warmth.

Ember smiled fondly at her partner. She reminded her of a little kid sometimes from how adorable she could be. And being the eldest girl of her family, her caring and motherly instincts kicked in. She laid on Kiara's bed, propping herself up with her forearm, and ran her fingers through Kiara's soft blonde hair.

"Go to sleep now, Ki. No nightmares will get you now that I'm here."

"'Night." Kiara mumbled. She drowsily thought about their conversation. _Maybe I_ can _do this. Ember's right. No more living in the past. No more being afraid. I won't let my mind get the best of me._ That was the last thing she thought before falling asleep. A peaceful, dreamless sleep.


	15. Chapter 15: An Interesting Mission

**A/N: Hey guys! sorry for the late update. This chapter was a lot of fun to write.**

 **Warning: This chapter contains small dose Fember(Finn/Ember) fluff. We apologize to those who don't like fluff but we want to try and Broaden our writing capabilities. Remember we're newbies. Happy Reading!**

"Have you signed up for a shadowing mission?" Lola asked team RECK as they all sat down to eat breakfast. It was Saturday morning and both teams had enjoyed the luxury of sleeping in.

They all looked each other. After a few moments of silence Clara spoke, "Oops. I guess we forgot…."

"We have been kind of busy.." Ember said.

"Sign-ups will be closed this evening." Yatsohide said shaking his head as if disappointed in them.

"I bet we'll get a dumb one." River said biting into an apple. "What did you guys choose?"

"Ummm, Lola what did you choose?" Finn asked his energetic teammate. He turned back to the others, "We let Lola choose for us so that it would be a surprise." He explained to the others.

"I can't tell you," Lola said, "Key word is: _surprise_."

"Whatever you chose it better be a good one." Roxanna told her.

"Well, I guess we should go sign up for one." River said standing up.

"See ya later." Finn called to Ember as she joined her teammates.

"Yup! Meet you in the courtyard in fifteen minutes!" She called back, smiling.

"What was that about?" Clara asked Ember as they walked towards the main hall.

Ember's face heated up. "Nothing!" She said quickly.

They all studied her for a few seconds. Kiara's eyes widened. "He asked you out?" she asked

Ember slowly nodded, blushing from embarrassment. "Yes.."

"Finally." River said, grinning. They kept quiet after that. They didn't want to antagonize Ember too much, just enough to have some fun.

They reached the main hall a few minutes later and walked up to one of the sign up boards. There were very few options left. They looked at the different types of missions.

"We could do… Grimm patrol?" Kiara said pointing at the 'Perimeter Defense' board.

"That one sounds really boring." Clara said, scrunching up her face. "Let's see what else there is." she said shaking her head.

"Yeah, we want an exciting one. Do they say whether the shadowee is a Senior team or not?" River asked.

"Yeah, all of them are senior teams. But they don't say what team." Ember said, pointing at one of the missions.

"Here's an exciting one." Kiara said after a few seconds of her scrolling through the short list. "It's in the 'Bounty' section. The description says that there has been robberies and such going on in some cities at the edge of Vale's border. It says the mission group will be investigating. How does that one sound?"

"More fun than 'grimm patrol.'" Clara said.

"Sign us up for it I guess." River shrugged.

Kiara typed in their team name and their scroll numbers.

"It says that we'll get a message on our scrolls from the senior team with all the information we need." Kiara told them as they walked to the doors that led to the courtyard.

"I will see you guys at dinner time." Ember said excitedly as they walked outside.

"Have fun on your date." They told her as she ran and joined Finn who was looking around for her.

"We will!" She called back as she linked arms with Finn, and the two set off.

R…..E…..C….K

"Finn, it's so beautiful." Ember said, smiling a mile wide.

They were sitting on a wooden bench in the courtyard watching the sunset. They could see the ocean from where they were sitting, and the sun's last light was reflecting off the water. It had pretty purple and pink hues, with bright orange and red all around it. Ember rested her head on Finn's shoulder.

Finn placed his tail around Ember's waist and his arm around her shoulder, and said, "Yeah, I thought it would be nice to bring you here. It relaxes me whenever I'm stressed out. But with you, it makes things a thousand times better." They both locked eyes with each other. "Kit." He said affectionately.

"If I'm a kit then you're a kitten." Ember said.

"But I'm your kitten." He grinned.

"Oh, shut up." Ember knocked into him gently, her cheeks dusted a light pink color.

She sighed and thought about their day. First they had gone to a small carnival that had been set up. They played a shooting game, which they aced because of their training in the field. They had won a lot of prizes which they then gave to little kids. It was adorable to see their faces light up in excitement over free prizes. They also went on a small ferris wheel. Ember didn't like how the carts (That only had a single bar to keep them from falling) had swung back and forth when they started and stopped. But that was just another excuse to hang on tightly to Finn. After the fair, they had gone to a small ice cream shop. They had shared a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and Ember had fed some to Finn. The only bad part of the day was when they got some disgusted looks from a couple humans in the shop. Ember's sensitive fox ears had picked up the words "animals" and "should be locked up". But even that couldn't keep this from being one of the happiest days in Ember's life.

The moment was broken when Ember's scroll rang.

"Sorry!" She apologized to Finn. "It's Riv. I better answer."

Finn nodded and Ember answered her ringing scroll. "Hi? What is it, River?"

"Where are you guys? You've been gone all day! We need you to hurry back. Something about our mission came up." River said.

"What? What is it?" Ember asked, worried.

"The team that we're shadowing wants to meet up with us or something. Just hurry and come back. Sorry to cut your date short."

Ember sighed, "No, it's fine. I'll be there in two shakes of a fox's tail."

"'Kay, bye."

"Bye!" Ember hung up. She turned to Finn and frowned. "Looks like we have to go back." She stood up.

"Yeah. It's okay though. I had fun today." He smiled at her and stood up too.

"Me too." She smiled.

Almost as if he had read her mind, Finn wrapped his arms around her waist. Right when Ember was about to lean in herself, Finn swept her around to his back.

Ember screamed. "F-finn! What the-"

"Let's go!" Finn laughed. He started running back to their dorms with Ember on his back, the girl screaming and holding him tight all the way.

R…..E…..C….K

"Bye, Finn. See you later." Ember told the boy, who had dropped her off at her dorm room.

River pulled her into the room. "Normally, I would question you and tease you on how your date went and stuff, but we have bigger matters right now." River said. "Here." She showed Ember her scroll.

Her text messages were up and the name 'RlyRlyKoolKid' showed up on the screen.

"Um...River who is this?"

"It's one of the seniors that we're going to shadow." River replied.

Ember raised an eyebrow but read the message: _Hi ther! im the leader of the team youl be shadowing. we need 2 talk about the mission. Meet us in the library. see u there!_

"It doesn't say when we're supposed to meet them…. Or who they are." Ember said slowly.

"Yeah, we know. But I guess we should go. They might have been waiting for us for a long time already." Clara shrugged.

"Okay, let's go then," an uneasy River said, leading the way out of the room.

A few minutes later they were in the library, looking around.

"Are you by chance team RECK?" A tall, muscular blond girl jumped in front of Kiara, causing her to fall over in surprise.

"Um, yeah?" Ember said, helping her partner up.

"Oh good. Come with me!" The girl grabbed Clara by the arm and tugged her into a room. The others hurried to follow.

Once they were all inside, a girl in a red hood slammed the door shut. "Alright! Let's get started!" She exclaimed. She zoomed to the front of the room at what seemed to be light speed, leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake. It must have been her semblance. "We are gonna be leading your mission. Are you excited?!"

"Wait, you look familiar." A girl in a light blue dress and bolero, leaned towards team RECK, squinting in a menacing way.

"U-um…" River stuttered. They all leaned away from the angry looking girl in blue.

"Weiss, stop scaring them. How many times do we gotta tell you not to release your ice queen upon strangers?" The blonde teased.

"Hush, Yang!" the one called Weiss growled, "I'm not in the mood."

"Oh, come on! Don't give me the _cold_ shoulder." Yang laughed at her own pun.

Team RECK, with the exception of River, stared wide-eyed. _The_ team RWBY would be tescorting them on this mission!

"No. Do _not_ start with your puns!"

"It's either sugar or ice that makes everything Weiss with you, isn't it?" Yang snickered.

"Yang. I know where you sleep." Weiss gave Yang her signature glare that would have scared anyone else half to death.

"C'mon. Don't take this away from me, Ice Weiss. I'm walking in a winter punderland!"

You could practically see the steam coming from Weiss' ears.

"S-sis, maybe you should tone it down about. Weiss is about to blow." The girl in the red hood, known as Ruby, said nervously.

"Rubes, Weiss needs this. She's been way too cold to us all day. I guess you could say it's because the poor ice queen was too _ice_ -olated! But work with thin ice and you'll get a _breakthrough_!"

"Yang." A black-haired girl with black cat ears looked up from where she was reading a book in the corner of the room. "Stop."

Yang sighed. "Fine. But only 'cause it's you, Blakey."

"Good, because you completely forgot why we're here!" Ruby exclaimed, waving her arms around.

"Oh, Right." Yang looked at the younger team that was sitting there awkwardly.

Ruby stood up straight. "He-hem! The reason why I, Ruby Rose, Leader of team RWBY, have called you here today is to… um… Why did we call them here?" She turned to teammates.

Weiss face-palmed. "You dolt! We called them here to meet them and discuss the mission."

"Oh, right. What she said!" Ruby put her hands on her hips. "So… What are your names?" She asked.

"I'm River, leader of the team."

"The one that Weiss beat in combat class?" Blake, the girl with the book, asked.

"Y-yeah. That." River said, heavily embarrassed.

"Well it's not like _any_ freshman could have beaten a senior. That match wasn't fair." Weiss pointed out.

"There's the Sugar-Weiss I know!" Ruby grabbed Weiss around the waist and squeezed her tightly.

"Yes, Ruby. Let go now!" Weiss squirmed in her grasp. No matter how much she had warmed up to her teammates over the years, Weiss would never be used to Ruby's impromptu hugs.

"I'm Ember." Ember said next. "This is my partner Kiara." She knew that Kiara wouldn't want to introduce herself. Kiara gave her a grateful nudge.

"I'm Clara," Clara told them.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ruby. And here are my teammates Weiss, Blake, and Yang. But… You probably already know who we are. 'Cause, y'know, we saved the world and all." Ruby rubbed the back of her head and grinned awkwardly.

"Not River." Ember bumped her leader with her shoulder. River was suddenly interested in her shoes.

"Uh, what do you mean?" Weiss asked, with her hands crossed in front of her chest.

"Oh, nothing." Ember shook her head.

"Umm, okay…. Anyway-" They continued as if nothing had ever happened.

"This is a bounty mission. There have been some trading route robberies around the edges of the kingdom of Vale's border. It's a long way away from Beacon, but someone's gotta do it. And that someone is us!" Ruby cheered.

"This is a tough mission. So we expect you guys to be on your game. I suggest you train before we go." Yang said. "You never know with these unidentified criminals. They can be way stronger than you expect."

River, Ember, Clara, and Kiara looked at each other.

"Right. Of course." River responded.

"Remember our first mission?" Yang asked her teammates, smiling. "That was crazy. And the whole Zwei incident."

"Yes. Know that if you are really coming with us, then you'll probably get into more trouble than usual." Blake informed them.

"We always seem to find bad guys no matter where we go. So we figured we should just pick a mission that cuts right to that chase." Yang said.

"We're gonna be leaving Tuesday morning. Five a.m. sharp." Ruby told them.

"B-but do we get to eat before we leave?" Ember asked.

"Of course. The hungry kit needs her food." Clara rolled her eyes.

Yang laughed. "Yeah, we'll bring food."

Ember grinned happily. "Food!"

"Well...um… I think that's it." Ruby said awkwardly.

"You dunce. This was the most uncomposed meeting I've ever been to." Weiss face-palmed. "I read your text too. Do you know what grammar is?"

"Aaand there's the ice in Weiss." Yang grabbed Weiss in a side hug.

Weiss rolled her eyes and tensed in Yang's hold. "Whatever. It's the truth. I'm just stating facts."

"How rude. Are you saying that Ruby is incompetent?"

"Of course not."

Yang gasped dramatically. "You hate her!"

"No, I never said that! Sure, she's a bit clueless but she's not that bad."

Yang grinned. "So you admit it. You _do_ tolerate Ruby."

"No! Stop! Shut up Xiao-Long!"

Team RECK looked at each other. This was going to be an interesting mission.

 **A/N: And so team RWBY enters the fray! You have no idea how fun it is to write them. I am the one responsible for Yang's ingenious puns. I may or may not have had to look some up for inspiration XD. Of course, puns come naturally in my family so it was pretty easy.**

 **See ya next time!**

 **-Jay**


	16. Chapter 16: Mission Impossible

**A/N: Hey guys! Firstly I want to apologize for the late chapter. I'm currently posting this at 11: 30 pm which, I mean, isn't that late, but still. I actually like how this one turned out. I think we're beginning to settle into a better vibe. Thanks for putting up with us inexperienced writers** **though. Happy reading.**

 **-Jay**

Clara shivered and crossed her arms to shield herself from the cold. _Why didn't I bring a jacket?!_ She thought. It was Monday evening, the night before her team's mission, and she had decided to go on a small walk to clear her head. She walked across the school grounds until she found a tree to sit under.

Clara pulled her legs up to her chest and sighed. It was becoming increasingly frustrating to be at Beacon. It wasn't that she didn't like being with her friends or her attending any of her classes. It was just that everyone was continually talking about having a drive to become a Huntsman or Huntress, and she didn't even care. She tried to ignore it; to distract herself. But it was starting to get to her now.

"Hey. You wanted to get some fresh air too?"

Clara looked up. Roxanna was standing in front of her.

Clara sighed, "Yeah. I just needed to get away from the others to think."

"I know what you mean." Roxanna sat down beside her. "Any reason in particular?"

Clara hesitated "Well… It's just that, my whole team is super hyped for this mission except for me. I'm just not excited. I know that their happy to be here and all..."

"Why aren't you happy to be here? I mean you have to be here for a reason." Roxanna asked.

"I didn't have a choice. My mom made me come. She was a huntress and she loved it, so she wanted me to become one." Clara sighed annoyedly. "I just wanted to go to art school."

"You would have done well in art school." Roxanna shrugged. "I guess... I get what you mean by not wanting to be here."

Clara looked at Roxanna, frowning she asked, "What do you mean? How did you end up coming to Beacon?"

"I guess it was just expectations of others. Both my parents were hunters and so are all of my older siblings." Roxanna said, looking at Clara. "I came here because I felt that my family would have been disappointed if I didn't."

"That's dumb. They should have let you decide." Clara muttered.

Roxanna snorted, "You're one to talk. Besides, they didn't decide for me, they only assisted in making my decision." the red head shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Clara asked.

"Well, I didn't have anything else to do, unlike you and your art. I probably would have become a huntress anyway."

"Well at least you can relate a little bit. My team thinks I'm crazy for not wanting to be here. Well except for River. But even she thinks that training to become a huntress is awesome and worth it."

"Speaking of River," Roxanna rubbed the back of her head, "I wanted to apologize for being such a jerk to her. I know it's hard when two of your friends are enemies. I guess we just got off on the wrong foot. Although, she didn't have to call me goth girl." Roxanna crossed her arms.

Clara laughed. "I can promise you that River didn't mean it that way. She just has a way of making everything she says seem mean. And I'll admit, she can be a bit judgy."

"Yeah, well… I'll try to be nicer for you, but I can't promise anything. I'll probably end up having to ignore her."

"You're so dramatic." Clara chuckled.

"I-I'm not being dramatic." Roxanna couldn't keep a smirk off her face. Soon they were laughing together.

"Well, I should go back to the dorms, I have to leave at five tomorrow morning." Clara said, standing up.

"Yeah, good night. And good luck on your mission." Roxanna told her.

R…..E…..C…..K

Team RECK's alarm clock woke them up at four thirty-five in the morning.

"Ugh! We should have chosen a different mission." Ember groaned as her teammates tried to drag her off her bed. "The sun isn't even out!"

"Come on Ember, they are waiting for us." Kiara told her. Despite how early it was, she was in a very good mood. She had slept very well that night

"Food?" was Embers reply.

"They told you that they would have food for you." River answered her teammate.

Ember hopped up happily and changed into her clothes and armor. They all grabbed their weapons and headed out the door.

They met team RWBY in the main courtyard. The sun wasn't up yet. It was all quiet except for the occasional birds chirping.

"Are you ready for an adventure?" Ruby asked them happily. She skipped up to them and hugged them. "This is gonna be so much fun!"

"Come on Ruby, you are gonna suffocate them." Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, we don't want them to die or they'll miss out on the real fun." Yang said jokingly.

Ruby let go of them and backed up. "Okay! So we are heading to Vale's border to investigate the group of thieves! Are you ready?" She asked happily.

"Uh, yeah." Clara mumbled, still half asleep.

"Great, lets go." Ruby said, already marching to the jet that was waiting for them.

Teams RWBY and RECK were sitting together on wooden benches on the jetcraft. The plane was very small, with only a storage room, the cockpit, and the passenger area.

"So Ember, do you- as a Faunus- have any food preferences or anything?" Yang asked going through the bag of snacks she had brought.

"Yang, that kind of question is kind of offensive sometimes," Blake said, before Ember could reply.

"Oh yeah. Umm, sorry," Yang said sheepishly.

"Nah, it's ok. I'll eat just about anything." Ember shrugged. Yang tossed her an apple.

"So how have classes been for you guys?" Yang asked the group.

"Uh, okay I guess." Clara answered. "Well, all except for Professor Dante's class."

"Ugh, you got stuck with him? I heard he docs some serious points if you or your homework is late." Ruby made a face.

"Yeah, we know. River was literally in the infirmary and he docked her for it." Ember scowled.

"So, how long is the flight?" Kiara asked. She had been quiet until then.

"Ruby, how long?" Yang asked her younger sister.

"Six hours." Ruby replied, matter-of-factly

"No, you dunce. The pilot said an hour and a half." Weiss face-palmed.

"Nevermind! It's an hour and a half." Ruby smiled sheepishly.

"Well, I'm gonna sleep until we get there. Wake me up later." Ember said, lying down on the floor. The others eagerly followed her lead and soon they were all asleep.

R…..E…..C…..K

Teams RECK and RWBY awoke to the sound of Ruby's voice, "Wake up, sleepy heads! We landed and are ready to start our mission!"

"Sleeeeeeep!" Ember moaned from her spot on the floor.

Ruby walked over to Clara and Kiara who were closest and shook them awake. "Wake up!"

"Ruby, stop acting like a six year old on their birthday." Weiss said as she woke Yang and Blake.

"Good morning, ice queen." Yang said through a yawn.

Weiss scowled at. "Don't call me that."

After a bit of prodding they managed to get Ember up and moved onto waking up River.

"I'm awake." She snapped at them after one of them -probably Yang- had thrown a pillow at her.

"Thanks Carl! I'll be sure to put in a good word for you with Junior." Yang said to their pilot as she walked by him with a wink and a salute.

When they were off the ship, lake asked, "By the way, Yang. How did you get the pilot?"

"Oh, I've got my ways." Yang smirked.

"Is he one of Juniors guys?"

"Maybe."

Weiss turned to Yang, "Did you threaten him into this?"

"...Maybe?"

Ruby interrupted them, "Okay. First stop: The town of Raeg, where we'll enter into Hopea forest."

Each of them had their weapons and a small bag with supplies. They looked around as they made their way into the town. It was pretty normal-looking, there were shops, houses, hotels, and small businesses. River especially kept a sharp eye. This town looked...familiar.

"Okay, so the woods we'll be investigating are on the west side of town." Yang looked up from the map she was holding. "The trading route, where the robberies took

place, runs along the edge of the woods. So that means the most likely bandit hideout would be inside of it."

"Inside of what?" Ruby stopped her rapid looking in every direction to refocus her attention on Yang.

Yang rolled her eyes and smiled. "Inside of the magical, purple potato that is home to over forty-thousand species of unicorns." Yang said, wiggling her fingers to imply the magicalness.

"Really?!" Ruby put her hands on her cheeks, eyes glowing in excitement.

"No! I meant inside the _woods_." Yang laughed at her sister's gullibility.

"Oh…I totally didn't want to see a unicorn." Ruby expression dropped, and she hung her head in disappointment.

"Ugh, stop looking so sad." Weiss; face turned into a soft frowned at the sight of her upset partner.

"If you gave her a hug she might feel better." Yang smirked at Weiss and crossed her arms.

"Y-you… ugh, fine!" Weiss scoffed. She slowly and stiffly put her arms around Ruby. Ruby- a sucker for any type of hug- leaned into Weiss' touch.

Weiss pulled herself away quickly,"Alright, that's enough physical contact." She pushed Ruby away. Ruby frowned.

"Don't worry, Rubbles. She's improving." Yang ruffled her sister's hair. "But I'd love to see the day when she can do this!" She grabbed Weiss into her signature bear hug.

"Let go, you oaf!" Weiss shrieked.

"Guys, let's go." Blake called back to her team.

Yang put the very annoyed Weiss down and they all quickly ran to catch up with Blake.

"Could we stop by a cafe and get some coffee? I am tired and are going need caffeine to function like a human being." Clara asked yawning as they walked past several restaurants that were opening for the day.

Weiss, who had finally stopped glaring at Yang, quickly agreed, "Yes, I think we could all use some."

"I guess we could do that." Blake said looking around, "Where's the nearest coffee shop?"

"Out of This World." Ember answered.

"Haha, very funny. But seriously, let's find a coffee shop." Yang yawned.

"No, there's a coffee shop called 'Out of This World' literally right in front of us." Ember pointed.

Yang looked across the street where Ember was pointing. "... Oh… Well isn't that convenient."

They made their way to the small shop where they each got a cup of coffee (Except for Ruby. Yang made her get a hot chocolate) and headed out again.

"Remember, we want to get this done as quickly as possible so we can make it back in time for the arrival of Vytal tournament competitors. They'll be coming from all over Remnant." Yang took a sip of her coffee.

"That's why no one wanted our mission, because it was so close to the Festival. And this mission might last a couple weeks, depending on how the investigation goes." Weiss informed them.

Yang suddenly made a noise of satisfaction. "Hay, this drink is surprisingly good. Who knew that spicy is good in coffee." Yang looked at her cup, which was called _Chili Morning Latte._ "And the puns! This just made my entire day." Yang smiled in content.

"Which way do we go to get to... Wherever you said we were going?" Ember asked as they stopped at an intersection in the street .

"We turn left up there, then we go through a few more intersections until we get to the dirt path out of town, which we follow until we reach the warehouse where this robbery took place and we can ask around for a bit and then head off to look around the forest." Blake answered.

Yang took another sip of her drink. "Yeah, I'm just gonna trust you on this one, Blake. I guess that's why they call it a _where_ -house?"

Ruby and Clara groaned, Blake sighed, and Weiss face-palmed.

"Eh? Guys? Did you get it?" Yang smiled in anticipation of the acknowledgment of her joke, which unfortunately never came.

After a while, they were walking past an alley, and River stopped. Thetown just looked too familiar. Then it hit her. "This is the town that I woke up in after losing my memory." She muttered to herself. She recognized the ice cream stand. The bookshop. The clothing store. A sense of dread washed through wasn't anything else linked to past here, was there?

"Riv!" Clara called to her teammate, who was with the group a dozen yards away. River quickly ran and caught up with the others.

They continued walking until they came to a winding dirt path along the edge of the woods. A small warehouse-type building.

"This is the trading route." Yang stated, pointing to the dirt path. "And that is a warehouse where goods are kept between the trading posts." She pointed to the small building. "Some equipment was stolen from that building. That was the most recent robbery, but there have been plenty more."

"Yes, we're going to question one of the workers that agreed to talk to us." Weiss informed them.

They walked up to the building, where a man was loading some boxes onto a truck.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Brown?" Ruby asked.

The man set the boxes down and looked up. "That's me." He said in a southern accent. "And I'm guessing y'all are the huntsmen- er, women", he corrected himself, " that are here to ask me some questions."

"Well… Huntresses in training, but yes, that's us." Ruby confirmed.

"Well, ask away." The man wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat down on one of the boxes.

"Okay. First, what do you know of the robberies that took place here?" Blake asked.

"The same as everyone else. Not much. It's true that I was on shift that night, but I was on road patrol. I heard a yell and ran back to the warehouse. When I got there, the guards were knocked out. And let me tell you, it would take a lot to knock out Billy. He's a brute of a man."

"Hmm, interesting. So, our opponent has gotta be strong." Yang put a hand to her chin.

"Yeah. I saw some of the guys run off."

"Can you give us any sort of physical description?" Blake questioned.

"Well… It was dark. But I could see that there were four or five of them, they ran into the woods." The man said, frowning as he tried to remember exact details.

"Is that all?" Weiss asked. What he told them wasn't much to run off of.

"That I can remember." The man nodded.

"Do you know exactly what they stole?" Ruby asked.

"Yes'm. We were holding a large shipment of equipment that was supposed to go to the Atlas Huntsmen Equipment Co." The man answered scratching his chin.

"If they think they can get away with stealing from huntsmen, well now they're gonna get a _beating_ from huntsmen." Yang said, cracking her knuckles.

" _Almost_ huntsmen." Weiss corrected, rolling her eyes at her teammate.

"So I guess it's on to the woods then. We're not going to find anything else here." Ruby said.

They said goodbye to Mr. Brown and headed down the road towards the woods.

"We should split up to cover more ground, from the look of the map, this forest is huge and they could be hiding anywhere." Yang said as they neared the large forested area.

"Hmmm, okay! Lets see who goes with who…" Ruby said studying the group. "I think that we should have one person from team RECK and one from RWBY."

"I'll go with anyone." Clara said shrugging.

"Perfect! You can go with Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed as she quickly dragged Weiss over to Clara.

"Hey!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Kiara, you can come with me." Ruby said, smiling at the shy girl.

Kiara nodded and smiled back. "Umm, ok.."

"I'll take Ember." Yang said, putting her arm around Ember's shoulder. "I know you like my puns."

"And how do you know that?" Weiss crossed her arms.

"She's the only one that doesn't grimace at them."

Ember shrugged, "My family has a reputation for puns. I, for one, don't get why people can hate jokes so much. Aren't they funny _because_ they're bad. "

"Exactly! This is what I'm saying! I found myself another pun buddy. Y'know it hasn't been the same since Sun went back to Haven." Yang said. She released Ember and rubbed her hands together. "This is going to be punderful!".

"Or, you could say, Puntastic." Ember said with a small smile.

"Stop.-" "-No." Weiss and Clara said at the same time.

They all turned to look at the two.

"Um.. I think we found another ice queen." Ruby said.

The two girls both scowled.

"... Oh my gosh, I think you're right." Yang said in surprise. "But Clara hasn't nailed ' _the glare'_ yet. She's like an ice queen in training. Or an ice princess."

"Okay, we're getting off track." Weiss said loudly.

"Well I guess that just leaves you and me as partners." Blake said, turning to River.

"Sure." River replied.

"Okay! Ember and I will search the eastern area of the woods. Ruby, you and Kiara search the southern area. Blake, River, you are searching the west. And Ice Queen and Ice Queen Junior are gonna search the north." Yang told them.

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Did you give us the north because of those dumb nicknames?"

"...No?" Before Weiss could get angry, Yang grabbed Ember's arm. "Well, we'd better be off if we want to find those naughty bandits! Good luck everyone!"

"Good luck!" Ruby called after them.

And with that they all set off.

 **A/N: Okay, can I just say how much I love writing Yang? and Weiss? And pretty much just the dynamics of team RWBY in general? I know we're kind of writing the volume 1-3 style of team RWBY but I like to think they sort of settled back into that** **rhythm after they returned to Beacon.**

 **Anyway, see you next week(hopefully a bit sooner than this).**

 **-Jay**


	17. Chapter 17: Splitting Up

**A/N: Hey guys. I know, I know. You don't want excuses. I'm pretty tired of them myself. Long story short: Life hit like hurricane Katrina(More like hurricane Tortilla!) Also I hate math. I promise I'll give you an early chapter this week. Stay tuned for an announcement at the end of the chapter. Happy reading.**

 **-Jay**

"Of course Yang would give us the northern area." Weiss muttered as they walked (in her case, stomped) through the woods. "That brute is always finding ways to insult people!"

Clara had to agree. Yang had a way of taking things too far, especially her puns. What was the point in them? Clara had to say, they did _not_ make her look any the wiser, and they were a bit rude. "Is she like that often?"

Weiss snorted, "Often? I'm almost convinced that she can't help it. Except I've seen her when she's serious or upset or angry. I'll admit I'll take a punning Yang over an angry Yang."

Clara hummed, "I wouldn't say any of my teammates are especially annoying. They all have their… quirks though.

"Well everyone does." Weiss replied.

They stayed silent for few minutes, focusing on the course path through the woods that was slowly getting narrower as the greenery got denser.

"So, how are you liking Beacon?" Weiss asked breaking the silence.

Clara hesitated before answering, "It's… nice I guess. I mean, the school is nice and all, but I don't think I belong. It's just not the right place for me," she finished awkwardly.

Weiss turned to her and raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? Do you have any other interests? Because I'm sure that there are a thousand girls who would love to be in your place."

"Yeah, I know. I was- am- one of the few who doesn't." Clara told her. "I love art. It's always been kind of my talent since I was a small girl. It was my mom who made me come. And she knew that I loved to sketch, but she just thought that it was silly to be an artist. She said it wasn't a good career. She was a huntress when she was younger and she expected me to become one as well. So, she made me come and here I am." Clara kept walking, looking down. She didn't want to have to look at Weiss' face.

Weiss gave the younger a calculated, "Yes, well, I suppose I've had the same trouble."

Clara looked surprised, "You have?"

She nodded, "My father was going to name me heiress to the Schnee Dust company after my older sister went against his wishes. I decided, since the company was going... downhill, that I could help things get better when I inherited it." She shook her head. "My father is an awful man. But sadly, there's nothing I can do about it. No one can change him back to what he once was."

Clara looked at the girl, frowning, "What happened after you inherited it?"

As they continued walking, occasionally slashing at a stray branch that was in their path with their weapons, Weiss explained further, "I never did inherit it."

"What do you mean?"

"I kept waiting and being patient, waiting for my moment to take charge. To change things and make them better. But then I, let's just say, displeased my father. And he disowned me. He made my brother the heir to the company and locked me in my own room." Weiss paused for a second, taking a deep breath to collect her thoughts. It wasn't easy to bring up these unpleasant memories.

"I decided that it was best that I left. I wouldn't be able to do anything locked up in that huge empty room. Not help rebuild the company. And definitely not help with terrible war that was going to begin, unbeknownst to the rest of the ignorant world." Weiss rolled her eyes, recalling the boarbatusk incident at her father's party. "I decided I wasn't going to take another second of my father's abusive control. So I ran away and found my teammates. Aaand we ended up saving all of Remnant." Weiss finished.

"Really? Sometimes I forget who I'm talking to here. I can't believe they are making you finish your last year of Beacon. You four have had more experience, and are more powerful than some of the greatest huntsmen in history."

Weiss smiled a little. "Yes, I suppose. But we're still the same as anyone else. We're people, and we make mistakes. That's something that I've had to learn." Weiss shuddered at the thought.

"Well, what am I supposed to do now?" Clara asked. Weiss seemed like a knowledgeable person, and she could use the advice.

Weiss tilted her head to the side in thought. "Well… if I were to give advice it would be: know when to sit back and wait for an opportunity, and when to take action. I had to wait for years for what I thought was a chance to redeem the Schnee Dust Company and my family's name. But it was all in vain. I don't regret it though. If it meant even the smallest chance at changing the company, I would do it again."

Clara nodded but frowned. "I just don't know what I'm waiting for."

"For the most part, I don't think anyone does know. I'd say the best thing you can do is be a good person. Instead of sulking in your own problems and thinking only of yourself, dedicate your life to others. Put them before yourself. I know that I struggle with that," Weiss sighed. "But I guarantee that if you do that, you'll find what you're waiting for much faster. Whether it's been sitting, waiting for you to find it, or it's something brand new that you never expected."

Clara smiled and nodded.

"You know, a wise man, though he smelled of cabbages, once told me some of the best advice I've ever heard: 'Be not the best leader(or student, or artist), but the best person that you can'." Weiss smiled, almost sadly, at the memory from long ago.

Clara looked at her with an unknown feeling. Admiration? Respect? This girl had been through so much, and she made it. And here she was, talking to her, Clara James. It made her feel very unqualified to say the least.

"Come on," Weiss said, " Let's see if we can find anything before we try to contact the others." And they continued into the woods.

R…..E…..C…..K

River and Blake made their way through the woods in silence. River thought it was a little awkward, but Blake seemed to be in her prime element. They both were very accustomed to the rough terrain. At one point they came across a boarbatusk, but they easily slayed it and continued on there way. After about half an hour had passed and they still hadn't found anything, Blake finally spoke up.

"You seem very comfortable in this environment. Did you live near a forest?"

River looked up, surprised by the sudden break of silence; as they had been swiftly walking she had developed a rhythm.

"Hmm? Oh… I- um, I don't know…"

Blake's brow furrowed and her eyes flicked. "You don't know?"

River felt extremely uncomfortable. She thought that her unremembered past wouldn't be much of a problem, but it turned out that people _did_ ask about your life. And they thought it was weird when you didn't have answers.

"What? No. Umm, yes I lived near a forest." River pulled a half-truth. If she just vaguely answered Blake's question she would be okay.

Blake's observant eyes squinted slightly at River. "That's... nice. Do you have any siblings?"

Siblings? River thought quickly. The first name that came to mind was, "Lark. I have a sister named Lark." River frowned. _Lark? Why does that sound familiar? She feels like a person I was really close to…_

"Are you two close? You seemed bothered when you mentioned her." Blake studied River for any reactions.

"Um, yeah. I think we were close… I mean, yes."

Blake stopped in her tracks and turned to face River. "River, why are you lying?"

"What...do you mean?"

"River, I'm a very observant person. Something else is going on. I don't know what it is, and I don't mean to pry, but something tells me it's not good."

River looked at Blake. She was scared. Scared about what would happen if anyone else found out about her past. But Blake's eyes were filled with something calming. Something trustworthy. And to River, it felt something like looking in a mirror.

River stared at Blake, eyes never moving from the older girl. "I guess, I just feel really lost. Something happened in my past. I'm not even exactly sure. But when I was little I ran away from my abusive parents. I, uh, started stealing to survive... All I know is that I woke up one morning and I couldn't remember the last six and a half years of my life. I, uh, I don't steal anymore." River squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for what Blake's reaction might be.

"...Well what did you do after that?"

"What? You don't think my story is in the slightest bit strange?"

Blake shrugged. "When your life has been as crazy as mine has been, you start expecting the unexpected. And I'm not one to judge."

"I guess." River looked at her feet. "Well, when I woke up in an alley, obviously I looked around and found out where I was. Then I saw this dumb guy trying to mug a group of kids and their teachers. I mean, how sick is that? That guy had to be a psychopath. Anyway, I just knocked out the guy and then Qrow shows up and gives me a scholarship."

Blake raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

River continued, "I'm not sure why. I didn't do anything. But that's how I got to Beacon. And here I am now. Probably the most un-confident and unworthy team leader you'll ever find."

"Qrow is strange," Blake spoke, "But he always ends up making good decisions. Well… most of the time. And you are definitely not the most un-confident leader. Every leader has doubts and hardships. It's not my opinion that decides if your worthy or not, but your team seems to be doing pretty well so far. Let's not forget that you're not even halfway through your first semester. I haven't seen you fight together yet, though. You seem to have strong relationships, and that's what is most important in a team. Having that core reliance and trust."

River frowned. "But we don't have core trust. At least my team doesn't with me. In fact, I think it's the opposite. They trust me on the outside, but inside I think they're still unsure. They're still cautious around me, especially Kiara. And I get it, my past is rough and full of uncertainty, and I don't have any answers for them. But it still hurts."

"Well...I can relate in some ways, but in other ways we're completely different." Blake turned and continued walking, motioning for River to follow. "Come on. We don't want to waste time."

"What do you mean?" River asked, catching up with Blake.

Blake forcefully slashed at a branch that was in her way. "When I was younger, I was… very misguided. I was a part of the White Fang. My family joined when they were only peaceful protesters. But it's very well known that they changed into a terrorist group. And I was there with them, even after my parents pulled out. There were just so many voices around me telling me that it was the right thing to do. And I listened." Blake was silent for a moment, remembering all the terrible things she had helped accomplish. River was quiet as well.

Blake continued, "I left the White Fang, obviously. I realized how cruel and horrible they were. And I applied for Beacon."

"I've really never thought about other people's pasts. I've only been worrying and thinking about mine…" River said in a lower tone.

"You ran away because your parents were abusive. You were in a bad place and it was better to leave. And you started breaking the law to survive, which, although it was wrong, is...understandable. I…left my parents for my own selfish reasons. My parents were loving and supporting. They told me I was wrong. They told me to leave the White Fang; that they were turning down the wrong path. But I didn't listen. I left them and ran. But they were right in the end. I should have listened." Blake's faunus ears flattened in shame.

River frowned. She would have never guessed that about Blake. But it made her hopeful. Blake was living proof that people could change. That pasts don't define us.

Blake straightened her shoulders and set her jaw, "But now I'm a huntress, fighting to make the world a better place. I've put my past completely behind me.

"Your past will someday, somehow, come back to you, River. But for now, I suggest that you worry about how you can make your team trust you more. Spend time with them, and show them that you're confident in being a leader. That's always helped me. I mean- not the leader part, but, you know, feeling confident in yourself." Blake said with a small smile.

"Yeah," River responded slowly. "Thanks Blake. I'll try. It was nice talking about it with someone who can assess the situation from outside of it."

"No problem." Blake answered, turning her head towards the path in front of her.

They picked up where they left off and continued to keep a lookout, walking in silence.

R…..E…..C…..K

Ruby set down the bundle of dry sticks she had been carrying and breathed out in satisfaction. "That'll be enough to start a nice warm fire for tonight." She crossed her arms and turned to face Kiara, who was setting down her own armful of wood.

"You've been so quiet! Do you talk?" Ruby waved her hand and in front of Kiara's face, causing her to pull in back in mild shock and confusion.

Ruby snatched her hand back, eyes wide. "Wait, is it because you don't like me? AAAH! What did I do? You hate me!"

"N-no!" Kiara interrupted her. "I just don't… talk much to people I guess…"

"Oh, so you're like Blake." Ruby tilted her head thoughtfully, "I don't know how you do it. I can't imagine talking so little!" She exclaimed.

"And I don't know how you walk up to random strangers and talk to them so confidently." Kiara mumbled.

"Oh, it's easy!" Ruby grinned. But her grin fell when she realized Kiara was being serious. "Well, actually I used to be super socially awkward. I mean, I still am just less…-er. No I'm still pretty awkward."

"But you can still talk to people." Kiara shook her head.

"Hah, you should have seen me on my first day at Beacon I managed to embarrass myself super bad in front of Blake, and don't even get me started on Weiss. She hated me for weeks!"

"Really? But you guys seem so close."

"Pfsh, yeah! After, what, four years?" Ruby laughed.

"I don't think anyone wants be associated with such a bad fighter as me." Kiara frowned.

"You're not a bad fighter!" Ruby exclaimed. "I've seen you."

"You mean during combat class? When I lost horribly?"

"Hey, I can tell when someone is a good fighter. And you are a natural.I saw how easily you slipped into stance. You have great control and you know what you're capable of. Well, almost. What was that, by the way? It looked like you lost by lack of concentration. Not lack of skill."

Kiara didn't know what to say. She was very unpracticed when it came to conversations like this. She didn't know how to voice her thoughts.

"I don't know. I guess I'm not very confident in my semblance. And fighting without my weapon."

"Ugg, I HATE hand-to-hand combat. I don't know what I'd do without Crescent Rose." She patted her folded up weapon that was behind her back.

"Yeah." Kiara agreed. "Thank you for the compliments, but I'm really not that good. I'd say I'm one of the lowest ranking first years, and I'm not even the only one who thinks that. I feel like I'm just holding my team back."

"Kiara, the fact that you made it into Beacon says something about you. And besides, not everyone can be the best. Strength isn't the only thing that matters when you're a huntress. Believe me, I would know. I'm a 'Scrawny little pip-squeak' as Yang would say." Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Everyone keeps saying that." Kiara grumbled. "That I'm good because I made it into Beacon. What if it was just a one time thing? If I only barely passed? If I can't continually fight that well, I'll never make it on the battlefield."

Ruby sighed, "You're not easy to convince are you?

"Can I tell you about a friend? His name is Jaune, and he was my first friend at Beacon. He… actually faked his transcripts for the Academy. He felt that he had to live up to his name, so he applied for Beacon to become a huntsman like his father, and grandfather, and great-grandfather, aaand the list goes on- but anyways, he wasn't a very good fighter. He was failing a lot of his classes and he lost every single dual he ever fought in." Ruby shook her head. "But finally, he reached out to his friends for help, and he worked hard to improve. It took a while. He didn't even discover his semblance until almost a year later. But today, he's one of the best huntsmen I know. Not because he was a good fighter. But because he had a strong spirit. To be a good huntsman you need to be strong physically, but also mentally and spiritually. And I know you've a got a bit of all of that in you." Ruby bumped Kiara's shoulder with her own. "And no matter your strengths, you can always do something."

Kiara was quiet for a moment, contemplating what Ruby had told her. Eventually, when she couldn't find anything else to argue about, she gave Ruby a small, grateful smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess so."

Ruby crossed her arms and grinned in satisfaction. "Exactly! Now let's build this fire! It's gonna get cold soon. Ooh, and I brought marshmallows!"

R…..E…..C…..K

Ember sat on a log and stared into the hot coals of the fire while Yang prodded it with a long stick. The flames danced and sparks flew into the air.

"Now isn't this nice!" Yang grinned "A warm fire and a starry sky!" She lifted her head upwards and squinted. "Well, we can't see the sky very well, but it's there."

"Yeah." Ember agreed. "You know, I've always symbolized fires with myself. You know, the embers and all."

Yang's eyes lit up. "A pun! That's beautiful. And I think fire is pretty cool too. Especially in explosions. We're alike, you and I. I mean, my semblance literally sets me on fire."

Ember smiled softly, "Yeah, I guess so."

"So," Yang plopped down on the log, next to Ember, "Where are you from? Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes, actually. I have four younger siblings. I guess you could call me the oldest."

"You guess?"

Ember sighed, "My older brother left home when we were really young. He joined some sort of… group of criminals."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Yang frowned.

"Yeah. We were really close. And he took all my childhood friends with him." Ember sighed. "Maybe that's part of the reason I wanted to become a huntress."

"I understand. My mom left me when I was very little. And right when I thought I had gotten a mother back, Ruby's mom left on a mission and never returned. I think I became a huntress to escape that truth. To distract myself with the thrills and adrenaline. But deep down inside it still hurts."

Ember's brows furrowed as she thought about Yang's words. "You see that? Even you've had to live a life that hurts. I worry about my own problems when there are people in this world who have it three times as hard as me. Clara, Kiara, and River all have these awful pasts and have so many troubles. And I'm sitting here, not the happiest person on earth, but I don't have all these heavy burdens to live with. I try to help and be there for them, but it's never enough. At the end of the day they're still in the same position they were the day before."

Yang looked at Ember with a little bit of surprise at the outburst, but also with understanding. "That's not true. You're helping a lot. Every little action you make to help your friends does just that, even if only a little bit."

Ember frowned, "But how do you know?"

"Ember, sometimes you're there just to be there. Every teammate has a part, even if it seems small. Ruby comes up with amazing ideas and keeps everyone motivated. Weiss helps to balance Ruby's craziness with her order. Blake is really stealthy and has a lot of field knowledge," Yang stood up, "And I'm there to smash the enemy to smithereens!" She exclaimed.

After a solid two three seconds of silence, Yang coughed and sat back down. "What I'm trying to say is that there's always something you can do to help your team. Whether it's being the strong fighter, being the strategist, or sometimes just being there to give them an extra push when they can't take the step themselves." Yang leaned forward picked up her stick again to give the fire a poke.

Ember studied Yang. The punny party girl could get surprisingly calm. Not to mention deep. It was like some sort of switch.

When she realized she still hadn't said anything, Ember cleared her throat, "Thanks, Yang. You're a great advice-giver."

The corner of Yang's mouth curled into a soft smile, but she kept her eyes on the fire. "It comes from years of experience." She set the stick down and reached the bag she had carried with her. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry." She pulled out a bag of what looked like beef jerky and another of...skittles…

"And here are tonight's' delicacies. Let's eat!"

 **A/N: Dang, now I want some skittles XD.**

 **Anyway, here is our big announcement: We've decided to split our story into two or more volumes for convenience. That being said we'll also be taking a break between volumes just to refresh ourselves and get new ideas as to where the story is going. Don't worry, we have plenty more chapters for this volume. We're just giving you a very very early heads up.**

 **More details we'll be shared when it becomes more relevant (and when we** _ **have**_ **the them) later on, obviously.**

 **Once again thank you so much for reading and thank you to those who gave us support and advice. We're so happy to be able to share our story with you. Byeee!**

 **-Jay(and Ren, and Em, and Mau)**


	18. Chapter 18: Banditos

**CHAPTER 18 BANDITOS!**

 **A/N: Hey guys! So first off, the title. ...Um that was just us not being able to come up with a title so we were just going to call it Bandits but then I thought Banditos sounded kooler, so yeah.**

 **2nd off: Hey! I got this chapter posted on time! I meant to do it earlier tonight but I got… postponed. So, fun fact: I'm the third of 7 children in my family. The youngest, my little brother of 2, wouldn't go to sleep because he was afraid of the dark or something. So basically I told him made up stories for half an hour and then he fell asleep on my arm and it took like me five whole minutes to get free XD.**

 **Anyway… Let's continue, shall we? Happy reading.**

 **-Jay**

" _I don't know about you but, I'm hungry." Yang pulled out a bag of what looked like beef jerky and another of...skittles? "And here are our carefully prepared delicacies. Let's eat!"_

Ember raised her eyebrows and smiled. "I won't turn down food." She reached over to accept Yang's offering when she froze, hand extended in midair. "Did you hear that?" She whispered.

Yang looked confused, but leaned closer to Ember and whispered back, "Hear what?"

Ember's fox ear twitched. "I thought I heard…" She trailed off.

The two girls fell silent... Nothing.

They were about to go back to eating when they heard a twig snap.

Yang and Ember both jumped up and and grabbed their weapons. Ember pointed into a large overgrown area. "There!" she shouted.

Suddenly a skinny man around 20 years old came running out of the bushes. He had a rhino's horn on his forehead, and was wearing a black tank top and camouflage cargo shorts.

"Hey!" Yang yelled.

The man froze and stared at the girls in panic.

Yang took a step forward, "What are you-"

The man bolted through the forest.

"After him!" Yang shouted. She immediately took off after him.

Ember shook her head to clear it of surprise. She tightened her grip on her staff and quickly ran to follow them.

She dashed through the leaf-covered forest, weaving in and out of trees and jumping over large roots and bushes. Soon she could make out Yang and the runaway's blurry form through the thick foliage (mostly thanks to Yang's long blonde mane of hair)

Ember's eyes narrowed and she cut to the right of them, activating her semblance as she ran.

By the time the man and Yang had made it over the fallen tree in their path, Ember was in front and to the right of them. She ducked under a branch and ran faster so she wouldn't miss her opening.

Right as the man was running past her, she extended her staff right in front of his legs, and unable to see her or the staff, he tripped right over it and fell to the forest ground with a thud.

.

He scrambled to get up, but Yang caught up to them and grabbed his arms, pressing them together behind his back and slamming his chest into the ground.

"Thought you could outrun us, huh?" Yang huffed. "Thank you, Ember. Nice semblance, by the way."

Yang pulled the man on to his feet. He fought for the breath that had been knocked out of him and struggled against Yang's restraint.

"Quit struggling, it's not going to get you anywhere." Yang said, pulling back a little.

"What are we going to do with him?" Ember asked, walking beside them and keeping an eye on the young man in case he somehow got loose.

"Well, It's too late to do anything now. We'll just have to keep an eye on him until morning. I'll signal the others and see if we can get someone to help us with watch duty."

"Yeah, I don't want to stay up all night." Ember nodded.

Yang led them back to camp, where she used a rope from their pack to tie the runaway's hands behind his back.

. "If you can take down a grimm, you can keep watch over a tied up criminal." She said to Ember. "I'll be right back. I'm going to see if I can contact the others with my scroll."

"Alright." Ember replied. When Yang had walked away, she turned to the man. He had long, slim face, brown hair, and short beard stubble. "So… do you have anything to say or can we just assume that you're a criminal?"

The man, who had been forced into a kneeling position, with his hands behind his back from rope, answered in a thick north accent, "No. You cannot make me talk."

Ember folded her hands behind her back. "Maybe not. But I bet she can." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder in Yang's direction.

The man leaned to look around Ember to look at Yang who was currently punching a tree and yelling something about 'Stupid, weak, forest signal'.

The man's face twitched, probably in fear. He turned to Ember and scowled, "Why have you come here?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ember folded her arms in front of her.

"You are huntress, no? Do you think that will make you worthy? You think they will accept you for what you do? Well, you should know you will get no help from the others. The only help you get is from yourself."

Ember's eyes narrowed. "And what if I'm not looking to help myself?"

Suddenly, a loud bang rang out through the air like a shotgun, and Ember whipped around.

Yang lowered her gauntlet armored fist from the air and re-cocked the gun on it. "Sorry, that was just a signal flare. I should have warned you first," Yang called. "That'll get their attention. But unfortunately they may think, we're in danger or something. As soon as one of them comes, we'll send up the 'ok' flare for the others.."

"There's such a thing as an 'ok' flare?" Ember asked.

"Well, I don't know if it's official but some of us at Beacon use it." Yang replied. "My team has a signal for everything. Ruby even made up a 'I'm really hungry and the only thing that will feed me is cookies' signal."

"Wow," Ember laughed. "I guess she really likes cookies."

"Oh, you have no idea," Yang said.

"I guess now all we can do now is wait." Ember sat down on the log, making sure to face their prisoner.

"Aaand we can finally eat dinner." Yang sat on the other side of their tied-up prisoner and reached for her bags of food. "Like we were going to do before we were so rudely interrupted by Mr. ugly over here." Yang pointed to the man. He scowled at her.

Yang put a handful of skittles in her mouth. "I hope you're not too tired. Because this is going to be a long night."

R…..E…..C…..K

"This has been a long day." Blake sighed.

They had seen the signal flare sent up by Ember and Yang and had trekked halfway across the forest to save them from their apparent danger before they saw a second 'safe' flare sent up.

"We walked all that way for nothing." River mumbled.

"Well at least we're back at our camp now." Blake pointed through the trees to where they had left their gear behind in a panic to save their teammates.

"I'll build the fire." River volunteered.

"Do you know how to build one with raw dust?" Blake asked. "It's all we have." It took a bit of skill to handle dust in its raw form safely, and in their day and age not many people even had to use it any more.

"Oh, sure." River waved her hand at Blake. But as she walked to get the supplies to build the fire, she frowned. She couldn't remember ever making a fire in her life. But at the same time she knew exactly what to do. She could remember how it felt with her hands. She could picture it in her mind. The dry sticks. The rock scraping the dust and causing friction for the fire. The way the leaves fell from the trees, swirling to the ground around her…His mysterious blue eyes looking at her, as he leaned around her to place a twig into the flames.

"River? I got some more sticks." The sound of Blake's voice broke through River's thoughts.

"W-what? Oh, right." River took the small bundle of sticks form Blake, feeling dazed.

Blake frowned, "Something wrong?"

River shook her head, "Oh, nothing. I was just… I was just thinking about something." She took the sticks over to where she had started to make the fire. _I'm so confused. Was that a memory? I don't understand my own mind. And.. who was he?_ She thought, trying to remember. _He seemed so.. Familiar..._ She quickly got the fire going and sat under a tree that was beside it to think.

She thought about what she had just seen. The boy, leaning around her.. From what she understood she felt like they had been close.. Very close.. _Come on brain, work with me!_ She scrunched her face in concentration, trying to remember something, anything.

After what felt like several long minutes she stood up. _Clearly this won't work, will it?_ She slammed her fist into the side of the tree in frustration. "Ow, ow, ow! That was stupid!"

Just then, Blake emerged from the trees. She had been scouting out the area. "Is everything alright?" She asked.

"Y-yeah. I just...burnt myself." River lied.

"Ow. Sorry."

"Yeah. It's fine." River sighed. "I'll take first watch if you want."

Blake was quiet for a moment "...Well, you seem well acquainted with how these things work. That's fine by me. I'm going to try to sleep, then. Wake me up in… 2 hours?"

"Sure." River agreed. She turned and went to stand by the tree again while Blake went to unroll her sleeping bag.

River crossed her arms and leaned her back against the tree. _I'm so sick of this. I just want to know myself._

She bit her lip. _Get ahold of yourself, River. You're on a mission right now. You can focus on yourself later._ She closed her eyes and sighed. "We'll see… we'll see."

R…..E…..C…..K

It was early in the morning. The ground was covered in fresh dew and the sun was just peaking through the thick trees. Weiss opened her eyes and blinked. The first thing she heard was the chirping birds. The second was the wind, blowing through the trees. But then she heard.. .a scratching sound? She quickly sat up and looked around.

"Clara?"

Clara was sitting on top of her sleep sack, with a notebook and a pencil looking very intently at whatever she was writing. She looked up from her work when she heard Weiss' voice. "Oh, hi."

"What are you doing with that notebook?" Weiss asked. She quickly stood up, fully awake now.

"I-it's a sketchbook. I brought it with me for the plane ride but never took it out. I woke up early and didn't want to wake you so I just thought.." Clara trailed off.

"Sketchbook? As in drawings?" Weiss knew the term from Blake, who spent many an evening drawing when she wasn't reading. Weiss herself didn't understand how drawing could be fun. The only things she drew where graphs and the occasional "trace and label a grimm" assignment from Professor Port. Or, she guessed it was Professor Dante now.

Clara nodded her head. "I'm sorry."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Well, there's no need to apologize." She took a step towards Clara. "But we better not dally around. What were you drawing, anyway?"

"Well, um, there's not much to draw around here and I like to have a visual and, well. I just… drew you." Clara mumbled.

Weiss quirked an eyebrow. She wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that. "Well, can I see?"

"Um… I guess." Even though Clara hated showing her sketchbook to anyone, especially people she didn't know very well, she thought it was fair to show someone a picture she had drawn of them. Reluctantly, she turned the sketchbook around for Weiss to see.

Weiss raised her eyebrows. "That's… really good." Although she wasn't quite sure how she felt about the picture being her sleeping form, lying in a meadow.

"Thanks." Clara said sheepishly. "I'm not finished yet." She studied the drawing. "I need to finish the legs and hair. You know, you're really fun to draw."

Weiss coughed, "Yes, well we really should start packing up. We need to get moving."

Clara immediately stood up and closed her sketchbook. "Of course. I'm sorry."

Just then there was "bang" from far off. Weiss and Clara both turned around and looked. They saw another flare in the sky.

"What does that one mean?" Clara asked Weiss. It wasn't like the other two that Weiss had explained to her the other night.

"That's Ruby's signal. It means we need to find her and meet up." Weiss growled, "This better not be another false alarm."

Clara shoved her sketchbook into her pack and put it on her back. "Well let's start then."

R…..E…..C…..K

"Blakey! Where ya been?" Yang ran up to Blake and River, throwing her arms around the former and bringing her into a crushing hug.

Blake, who was used to that sort of thing, sighed and reached her arm around to pat the brawler's shoulder. "Hey, Yang. We were kind of far away so it took us awhile to get here."

"But I missed you!" Yang let go of her best friend and pointed over her shoulder. "Look what Ember and I got ourselves!"

River looked around Yang's shoulder to see the rest of her team and team RWBY standing around a man who was tied up on the ground.

"Is this what the flare was for yesterday?" Blake asked Yang.

"Yeah." Ember answered her question. "But Ruby and Kiara came around to give us a hand so we sent up the second flare."

"So let me get this straight." River said, "You found this… guy, you caught him, you sent out a flare to signal someone to come help you with him, and when Kiara and Ruby came you sent up a 'safe' flare, and today you made Ruby send up a flare to call us all here?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Ruby replied.

"So what are we going to do now?" Clara asked.

"We're going to interrogate him." Weiss answered.

The man suddenly spoke up, "Who, the little snowflake? I would like to see such the princess do something mean." The man said in his accent, smirking.

Weiss whipped around to face the man. "Something mean?" She punched him so hard that he fell to the ground with a bloody nose. She wiped her hand on her skirt. " _That_ felt good." She said plainly.

Yang walked up to the man and grabbed him by the collar, "You're gonna tell us what you know whether you like it or not, got it unicorn horn?"

The man flinched at the angry girl's voice."Alright, alright." He said.

"First things first, who are you? And who do you work for?" Yang asked.

The man was silent.

"She asked you a question, dunce." Weiss lifted her fist. "Or do you like getting punched?"

"I am called Shock- I mean, Zeke Alrune." He replied quickly. "Zeke Alrune is my real name."

"And who do you work for?"

"J-james."

"James? James who?" Blake asked.

"James is his second name. That is what they tell me. I do not know if it is real or false." Zeke growled at them..

"By second you mean last, right? Well, that's not unexpected. Not many crooks would go around using their real name." Ruby pointed out. But Clara frowned.

"Who else is in your little band?" Yang asked Zeke roughly.

"F-four others."

Yang opened her mouth to speak.

"And I do not know the real names!" Zeke cut her off, "We use false names."

"Well where are they now? Where are they headed?" Yang demanded i annoyance.

"Last I know, they were going back to camp on the south side of the wood. I got lost from them." He quickly explained, before any of them could threaten him.

"Great. Just great." Yang growled.

"Do you think we can still catch them?" River asked.

"I don't know but there's only one way to find out." Yang dropped the man on the ground and started to grab her gear.

"Wait, we can't _all_ go." Weiss said, "And besides, who's going to watch over him?" She pointed to Zeke.

"That's a good point." Blake agreed.

"Why don't we split up then?" Ruby suggested. "Blake, Clara, Kiara, and I will go and search for the rest of the group and everyone else will stay here."

"Hey, I'm not getting left behind!" Yang whined.

"Fine. Blake stays here, Yang come with us."

"But isn't stealth in less than ideal conditions kind of Blake's thing?" Weiss argued. "Also, why am I being left behind?"

Ruby huffed in annoyance. "Fine, I'll stay behind with Ember, River, and Clara." Ruby said trying to keep the peace with her teammates. "You, Blake, Yang, and Kiara can go ahead, okay?"

They all agreed, and the group of four went off into the woods.

Ruby turned to Clara, Ember, and River. "I'm gonna go look around to make sure none of those bandits are around here looking for their lost partner. Think you can watch over this guy?" She pointed back at Zeke, who was glaring at them.

"Go ahead." Ember shrugged.

"Yeah, he doesn't look like much of a fighter anyway." Clara said. Ruby smiled and quickly turned and walked into the woods.

They turned to Zeke who was struggling to get out of his bonds. "So what have you not told us yet?" River asked, walking up to him and tightening the ropes around his hands.

Zeke stopped struggling and stared at her for a moment frowning. "You. You are the one they call Storm?"

"Yes, why?" River asked.

"Umm, River?" Clara looked at her partner, bewildered.

"What?"

"He just called you Storm… and you responded."

River looked at her for a second, then she looked back at Zeke. "I did? Huh. That was weird." She felt confused. When she thought about it, he _had_ called her Storm. But it didn't feel different.

"You look like a one that used to be with us. A traitor" Zeke squinted at her, before deciding it was just a coincidence.

Ember shrugged and continued where they had left off, "Well, what were the names of the people you're with."

"I told you the other time, I don't know."

"I know, I know. What about their code names though?"

Zeke scowled, "There were ones called Kayzoo, Nikaya, Lilly, and...Canyon."

When she heard the last name, River froze. It's like her her mind had exploded. _Canyon?_ She could hear the name filling her mind, being repeated over and over again in a million different ways, a million different tones, a million different voices. Her mind was filled with a single image. Soft blue eyes looking into hers.

"River?" Clara asked her partner in concern.

River was brought back to the present by her teammates voice. "Clara? I- what is it?"

"Are you feeling okay?"

River shook her head. "What? Yes, of course. I-i'm fine."

"Canyon." Ember spoke suddenly, "I know that name and I don't like it." She scowled.

"What do you mean?" Clara asked.

"Nothing." Ember said. "I just… It reminds me of someone I knew."

River sighed, "This whole mission is just messing with me. I can't wait to get back to Beacon."

Just then there was a loud bang. The three girls looked around wildly.

Suddenly, Ruby darted back into the camp."Guys, did you see that flare? That means mission success!"

"Mission success?" Ember asked.

"They caught the baddies!" Ruby cheered.

The three teammates smiled at each other. Mission success.

R…..E…..C…..K

A teenage boy with pitch black hair and light gray wolf ears darted from one patch of bushes to the next.

"Mission, failure." He growled as he ran. "Great job, Canyon. You lost your entire band. ... At least I got away."

He stopped to rest against a tree and catch his breath. _I lost everything. The goods...my team. What will the boss think? And I was just starting to win his favor._ He squeezed his eyes shut. _I don't know how much longer I can do this._

A sudden wave of emotion that he wasn't prepared for suddenly washed over him. "What am I doing? This isn't what I wanted. Not this."

He quickly wiped the tear that fell down his cheek, chest fluttering with short gasps of emotion. "I… I wish I could leave."

His thoughts suddenly hardened as he heard the harsh threats and warnings of his superiors in his head. _No._ He thought. _I won't be like her. I'll_ _face_ _my problems._ He tightened his fists. _I better get back to main base. At least those stupid huntsman don't know about that._

The boy took off again, stealthily navigating his way in and out of the shadows, and through the forest.

 **A/N: So… a LOT just happened. I really hope we didn't do to much too soon, but I also feel that we've dragged you guys on long enough. So just… don't jump to too many conclusions yet. Even though some significant stuff has revealed itself, the story still has many more twists and turns. Be prepared. But still, I'm SO excited, are you?**

 **-Jay**


	19. Chapter 19: That Hat and Cane

**CHAPTER 19 TORCHWICK**

 **A/N: Hey guys, sorry this chapter is so short and crappy but we've got some longer and better ones coming up. This chapter goes a little off-cannon but we had it planned before any of the stuff was confirmed in the show and we couldn't ditch it. Shout out to our anonymous IRL friend who you may notice will go by the name Lily in this chapter.**

 **Thank you guys so much for supporting us lil' budding authors even when our writing hasn't been the best. We hope you'll stay with us as he hopefully improve and grow. We love you all!**

 **-Jay, Ren, Em, Mau**

"You got them!" Ruby cheered.

Yang entered the makeshift camp roughly holding a boy with one hand and a girl with the other. Blake was holding another girl, and Weiss and Kiara walked on either side of the group to make sure that none of the captives could escape

"I thought there were four of them though." Ember said, looking puzzled.

"I am the four." Zeke said quickly.

"But didn't you tell us four names?" Clara looked at him sceptically. "You said Kayzoo, Nik...something, Canyon, and someone else."

Suddenly, the girl that Blake was holding spoke up, "C-canyon's dead. He died two months ago."

The huntresses-in-training all looked at each other.

Yang squinted her eyes at their prisoners. But eventually she relented and shrugged her shoulders. "...Well, I guess that's that," she said, "We need to get these guys to the police in Raeg and tell them the location of their camp. That's where all of the stolen goods were."

"Well let's hurry up then, I want to be able to get back to Beacon before tomorrow." Weiss crossed her arms.

"Well, we'll see. It might take awhile with the police." Ruby stretched her arms above her head. "Everyone pack up and grab your gear. We're rolling out."

They all grabbed their belongings, packed up camp, and started on the long walk back to Raeg.

As the group made their way through the town, people started staring. Team RWBY didn't seem affected by this, it must have been normal for them since they were used to catching criminals, but team RECK felt very awkward.

At one point River shot a menacing glare at one of the onlookers and they quickly looked away. Ember bumped her with her shoulder, "Hey be nice, River."

The two teams rolled into the police station. Yang looked over her shades at the cop who was working the front desk, like a true boss.

"Hello officer," she said, "We have a few criminals that we need to have locked up."

The officer looked up from his computer with an expression of moderate disdain. "Are these the ones that ransacked the trading route?" He asked

"They sure are. We found them out in the forest," Ruby answered.

The cop sighed, "Alright, I'll get some officers to take them off your hands and then I'll need you to fill out some paperwork." He used the phone on his desk to intercom some other men that took the thieves and lead them through a large metal door that probably lead to the jail cells. Then he started leafing through papers that he placed onto the desk in front of the teams.

"I hate paperwork." Ruby groaned. "I wanted to be a huntress to _avoid_ using a pencil."

"Sorry, sis." Yang ruffled Ruby's hair. "Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do."

About 45 minutes later the eight huntresses finished answering questions and filling out paperwork and bid the officer adeu.

"We get to go back to Beacon now!" Ember exclaimed happily, as they pushed open the door that lead out of the station and into the chilly fall air.

"And the students from the other schools will be arriving soon for the Vytal festival. The tournaments will be starting in a few weeks, and the school's dance will be soon!" Ruby told them excitedly. "This is gonna be the best Vytal festival ever!"

Clara made a face, "Yeah.. But don't forget we also still have classes going on, so don't get to distracted."

Her teammates all rolled their eyes and they continued walking.

"Wait... Yang did you tell the pilot to meet us with the airship?" Blake asked frowning as they walked through the streets towards the landing docks.

Yang looked at her scroll and nodded. "Yup, he should be here in an hour and a half. That means we can browse around for a bit."

Team RECK was starting to feel a lot less awkward around the senior team and even enjoyed walking down the shop-lined streets of Raeg. They hadn't been outside of Beacon and the city of Vale in a long time

As they walked past a store that had furniture and other items for houses called _Wise-guy's house decor_ Ruby's eyes widened. "Is that..?" She pointed to two figures that were standing outside of the store and looking through the window.

Her companions all turned to see what she was getting excited about. To their surprise, dismay, discomfort, shock, and slight disgust, they saw a man with orange hair covered by a black hat, wearing a white coat and holding a cane, standing next to a young woman who wore a black leather jacket, ripped jeans, and lace-up, heeled boots that came up to her knee. The two seemed to be in a deep discussion about something inside the store.

"No, these ones are boring and the color won't go with the room. Let's get flaming drapes!" The woman was saying as the two teams approached them. "It will-"

"-match my hair. Yes, I know, Lily. But if you could _just_ tone it down a bit, that would be great, thanks."

"Torchwick!?" Weiss asked confusedly. "I thought he got eaten by a grimm!"

"He did!" Ruby said.

"Wait, what?" Ember asked.

Torchwick heard them and stopped talking. He turned to them. "Why, if it isn't my old friends! Still killing all those monsters? I hear everything has been built back up at Beacon."

"Torchwick, what are you up to? Weren't you dead the last time I checked?" Yang asked with a scowl on her face.

"Didn't you have _two_ arms last time I checked? Oh, and hey! Looks like kitty's got ears." Torchwick grinned. Blake glared. Team RECK stared confusedly.

"Am I missing something here?" Clara asked.

"Quit the small talk and tell us what you're up to." Weiss snapped at Torchwick.

"Where you planning on stealing drapes or something?" Ruby was confused. A little angry, but mostly just confused.

"No, actually, I am _buying_ drapes for my house, with my wife, Lily.-

"'Sup." Lily said.

" -Like a _normal_ human being." Torchwick scowled, "You know, you kids disgust me. Just _assuming_ that I'm always stealing something."

"Yeah, well you kind of robbed hundreds of dust shops, destroyed an entire city, and killed thousands of people. I think that fact that you didn't die 30 seconds ago is _pretty_ generous of us already." Yang's eyes were tinted with the briefest of scarlet.

"Fair enough." Roman acknowledged, "But I've given up my life of crime now. It was _way_ too much work. And you know, we never got a vacation!" Roman raised his hands in annoyance as if expecting them to agree with him.

Lily screamed suddenly, "Are you accusing my husband of crime? No one touches _my_ bae!" Something spilled out of the small black bag she was carrying.

"Woah, uh. Calm down there, miss." Ruby said.

Weiss pointed to what Lily had dropped. "What's that?"

Roman sighed, "Lily, you're spilling your polynesian sauce again."

"My slurpy sawces!" Lily quickly retrieved the small containers. They looked like the kind you'd get at a fast-food place. "Ew, this one's dirty. YEET!" Lily chucked the sauce packet.

Roman face-palmed. "Are you guys done with us yet? Because I would really like to buy these drapes and go home." Lily was now shoving the packets back into her purse. "As _soon_ as possible!"

"Oh… right" Ruby said uneasily. "Well have a nice day." She waved awkwardly and turned to leave.

"Maybe we'll run into you again sometime soon." The man waved his hand as if shooing them off. The rest of her team, as well as team RECK, followed Ruby.

"Congratulations on your marriage." Yang called back to him.

"Do you actually believe that guy?" Clara asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

Blake spoke, "Yes and no. For one thing, we don't have time to go after him even if he was up to something. Also, we weren't assigned to capture him."

"Yes. Although we've done it in the past, people aren't so happy when we go around catching random criminals."

Yang sighed, "Let's go get some coffee and get back to Beacon, shall we?"

R…..E…..C…..K

Teams RECK and RWBY sat in comfortable silence in the back of the airship as they flew home. They were all exhausted and didn't have the energy to make small talk. Team RECK was huddled in a circle on the floor in the corner of the ship.

"That was...well, it was something." Ember finally spoke.

"Yeah… does anyone else feel… I don't know, incomplete?" Clara asked, frowning.

"You mean like we left something really important?" River stared at the wall.

"Or didn't do something." Clara nodded.

"So, I'm not the only one." Kiara mumbled.

"No," Ember said quietly.

"Team RWBY doesn't seem to think so. Or at least they're not showing it." River said. They all looked over to the senior team. Blake, Wiess, and Ruby were asleep. Yang was in the cockpit talking to the pilot or something.

"Well, what do you think we missed?" Ember asked. "We caught the thieves."

"Yeah, but it all seemed really fishy. Like that Canyon just died. I don't know." Clara groaned.

"Ugh, that name." River scoffed, annoyedly.

"What name?" Kiara asked, confused.

"Canyon. I know it from somewhere. I… I think I knew him, whoever he is. And I'm pretty sure he's not dead."

"I know the name too…" Ember frowned, "It was- ...Never mind. It can't be the same person. I mean, there was this guy that- I mean my brother, he… Ugh, this is all just too familiar."

"Exactly. That's exactly it." Clara's brows furrowed, "It's familiar. Too familiar. And I have no idea why. Like, nothing has ever happened in my life that is related to this, whatsoever. But at the same time, I feel like my whole life is surrounding it. Like it's the base of my existence. Is that weird?"

"Yeah, it's very weird. But what's even weirder is that I know exactly what you're talking about." Kiara said quietly.

R…..E…..C…..K

Two hours later, the ship landed. "It's nice to be back." Yang said, stretching her arms above her head as they all grabbed their backpacks and made for the exit.

"So… that's it? That's the end of the mission?" River asked awkwardly.

"Well, we did what we were supposed to do. We apprehended the thieves, turned them in to the officials and gave them the appropriate information. I'd say that was a job well done," Weiss said.

"But that was so boring!" Ruby pouted. "We usually get into _way_ more trouble."

"Well, you can't cause a catastrophe _everywhere_ you go." Weiss patted Ruby's head.

Ruby grabbed her head and leaned away from Weiss. "Hey, you can't do that, you're shorter than me!"

"Yeah, but that mission was almost _too_ easy." Blake pointed out.

Team RECK looked at each other. Did team RWBY feel what they felt?

"Oh well, I'm not complaining." Yang shrugged. The rest of her team brushed it off as well.

"Guys, look!" Ruby pointed up the pathway from the airship docks toward Beacon. There were banners hung up and a couple of booths set up.

"They're preparing for the Vytal Festival already?" Blake asked.

"Wow," Ember said excitedly, "I've never been to a Vytal Festival."

"Are you guys going to compete?" River asked team RWBY.

"No, we wanted to take a turn watching. You know. Relax. Have fun." Yang said.

"You enormous buffoon! You threw a fit when Qrow wouldn't let us compete." Weiss crossed her arms.

"Well it's not my fault if we're too good for them!" Yang copied her stance.

Blake laughed, "Calm down, Yang. The tournament is for students who haven't had as much experience as us."

"Yeah, sure." Ruby butted in, "But we were falsely disqualified last time. I want a rematch."

"Are you guys competing?" Yang turned to team RECK.

"Uuum…" Ember rubbed the back of her head. They all turned to River.

"What? I don't know!" She put her hands up in front of her.

"You guys should go for it. It's a lot of fun." Blake encouraged. She looked River in the eyes, nodding.

"And, a lot of stress." Kiara mumbled.

"Hey, come on! We can at least try." Ember said brightly.

"Yeah, do it for us. You can fight in our place!" Ruby cheered.

"Alright, alright. We'll try and get in." River promised.

"That's the spirit!" Yang said smiling.

"Aren't you forgetting that we have to go report to Qrow?" Weiss tapped her fingers on her crossed arms.

"Oh yeah, we do." Ruby nodded. She turned to team RECK. "Well, we've got to. We'll tell Qrow you passed your mission just fine and he'll put it in the system so that the teachers know you're back. You'll be resuming normal classes and stuff. And now you have to train for the tournament." Team RECK nodded.

"See you around!" Yang waved.

"It was a pleasure working with you." Weiss said.

"That's what they say before everyone dies, Weiss." Ruby rolled her eyes

Blake smiled at her teammates before turning to the lower-classmen. "You did well out there. We'll see you later."

Team RECK said their goodbyes and headed back to their dorm room.

"Looks like we've got the rest of today off." River told her team, looking up from her scroll. She was sitting on Clara's bed with Clara beside her.

"Well, what do you want to do now?" Ember asked, flopping down onto her bed.

"...sleep?" Clara suggested.

"Yup, that sounds about right." Kiara grabbed some comfortable clothes to change into and headed to the bathroom.

"Ha. I'm not even going to change." Ember got into a cozy position on her bed and wrapped her tail around her waist.

"Ugh, I'm not climbing back to my bed." River groaned.

"Fine, you can stay. Just don't move." Clara said, laying down.

"Um... Okay." River nodded.

"If you move, I'm kicking you out."

"Right. Got it. Don't move." River mumbled, laying back. Within a few minutes they were all asleep.

 **A/N: Hey guys, I love writing team RWBY so much! Also, no joke, that's only a slight exaggeration of how our friend "Lily" acts. She… really has a thing for Chick-fil-a Polynesian sauce. ...and saying yeet. LOL. Anyway, see you next week.**

 **-Jay**


	20. Chapter 20: Back to Kind of Normal

**A/N: Hey guys, here's a nice long chapter for you to make up for the previous one. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!**

 **-Jay**

* * *

"Someone turn off the alarm clock!" Ember moaned from her bed as the obnoxious blare of the alarm shattered the silence of the quiet dorm and pricked Ember's sensitive fox ears.

After another minute of the annoying electronic beeps, Ember sat up and looked at her teammates. "Of course, I'm the only one that wakes up," She grumbled. "Why do I always have to babysit everyone?"

She slowly got off of her bed and grabbed the scroll that was laying on one of the desks. Turning off the alarm, she checked the time. _Uh-oh…_ "You guys! Wake up! We're gonna be late for our classes!" She quickly shook Kiara awake, and then climbed to the top of the other bunk to wake up Clara and River.

"What's going on?" River asked confused, while yawning and sitting up.

"We're gonna be late to classes if you two don't get up." Ember told them, holding up her scroll and showing them the time.

Immediately, all three girls were jumping out of the bed and grabbing their things.

"What class do we have first today?" Clara asked as they all ran out of the dorm and through the hallway. They had five minutes to get to class.

"Ugh, ew. Grimm studies." River said, making a face.

"Well then move your cabooses! I'm not having a repeat of our first day," Clara called.

They all groaned but picked up their speed and hastily made their way toward their least favorite class.

R…..E…..C…..K

After sitting through a dull lecture and being given an unreasonable amount of homework by Dante, team RECK was not happy as they made their way into History class.

"Hello class, how're you going? I hope you've had a good day so far." Professor Scarlatina greeted.

"How unpleasantly ironic." Ember said while she turned her head to where Yatsohide waved from his seat with a big grin on his face.

"That was some wonderful vocabulary," he complimented Ember. "Perhaps you're not all a lost cause," he said, giving a devious smirk to his teammates that none of them knew he had in him.

When everyone was seated, Velvet began to speak, "As you all know, the Vytal Festival is coming soon, and I couldn't help but notice that it's the only thing I hear you kids talking about. So I thought we'd brush up on the history of it.

"The Vytal Festival is an international event held every two years by one of the kingdoms of Remnant. The Festival was created after the end of the Great War to celebrate the diversity of cultures on Remnant through dances, parades, and, what I think you students are most excited for, the Vytal combat tournament."

The class was filled with cheers and hollers.

Velvet smiled. "I thought so." She picked up a remote and pointed it at the wall behind her. A light was projected onto the giant chalkboard.

"Ooh, that's cool!" Lola commented.

"The Vytal Festival was named after the island of Vytal, which is north of Vale and is where the treaty that ended the Great War was signed." Velvet clicked another button on the remote and a map popped up on the chalkboard, showing the small island next to the continent of Sanus.

"I've been there before." Finn whispered to his friends, "My dad took me once on a sort of business trip. That was back when… when I still lived with my home tribe."

His friends glanced at him questioningly.

Suddenly, a girl who looked to be an exchange student from Haven raised her hand. "Professor Velvet, doesn't the Vytal tournament switch kingdoms every two years?"

"Normally it would, but after the disaster that happened at last Festival, the kingdoms' council decided that they would hold this one at Beacon to make up for it."

"But that's unfair," The girl said, "It's supposed to be Haven's turn."

"Guess what? Life's not fair sweet cheeks," Kiara muttered under her breath. River snorted and bit her lip to keep from laughing.

Velvet frowned. "What's unfair is the hundreds of lives that were lost in the Fall of Beacon. I hardly call what happened two years ago a proper Vytal tournament. Or do you disagree?"

The room was silent.

"Dang, Velvet," Clara whispered to her teammates, "She _does_ have a mean side."

"Shhh." Yatsohide hushed them as Velvet started talking again.

"During the Vytal combat tournament, students from the four Huntsman Academies: Haven, Shade, Atlas and Beacon, compete in team rounds, double rounds, and single rounds to determine the winner." Velvet used her remote to make a branch graph of the rounds appear on the wall. "And I'm sure that you all know that the tournament is held in the Amity theater, a giant floating stadium that seat thousands of people." The chalkboard switched to an image of the enormous ship.

Velvet turned to face her class. "Many students can lose sight of the importance of the tournament and get caught up in its competitiveness. But I want you all to remember that the tournament is not about who wins, or who is better. The tournament is an example and reminder to us that we should always work to progress. Not to be better than others but to better ourselves."

The room was filled with a solemn and thoughtful silence.

"Well said, Velvet," Yatsohide spoke quietly, "Well said."

R…..E…..C…..K

"Why am I so tired?" Clara groaned. She lay her head down on the cafeteria table that she and her friends were sitting at for lunch.

"I don't know. We slept all yesterday afternoon and last night. It must have to do with getting back into the normality of Beacon's schedule." River propped her elbows on the table and lay her head in her hands.

"Normal? I'd hardly call this normal. There are exchange students everywhere and it's making me really uncomfortable." Ember looked around at all the strange faces.

"They're here for the festival and tournament," Yatsohide said.

"Yeah, they started arriving yesterday when you guys were gone. There are students from Haven and some from Shade, " Lola said, "I heard that the Atlas students are gonna be arriving together on one huge ship."

"Yeah, well I'm glad they're not here yet. We don't need them sticking their pretty little noses all over our nice clean Beacon." Roxanna scowled.

"Have you guys gone on your mission yet?" Kiara asked, trying to change the subject.

Finn, Yatsohide, and Roxanna all glared at Lola who smiled sheepishly and hunched down in her seat.

"Yeah, we did. It was _interesting_." Roxanna crossed her arms, still staring at Lola.

"By interesting, you mean a complete waste of time." Finn muttered. He turned to team RECK. "All we did was sort out old files while listening to some old Huntsman that looked old enough to be my great-grandfather."

"I'm sorry guys! I thought that classifying dust experiments meant that _we_ were gonna be the ones doing top secret dust experiments, not organizing records of them."

River chuckled, "It couldn't have been _that_ bad."

"Are you kidding? I got more cuts from old dusty paper than I'd ever get on the battlefield!" Finn exclaimed, holding up his band-aid covered hands to prove his point.

"What did the huntsman even talk about?" Clara asked.

"Something about how important it was to memorize the exact formulas to every type of dust that ever existed," Yatsohide said. "Which wouldn't have been that bad, but his grammar was horrible; so was his pronunciation." He scowled.

"That is something we can agree on for once. He had this really weird accent that was impossible to understand." Roxanna made a face.

"Okay, enough about us. How was your mission?" Finn asked team RECK.

River, Ember, Kiara, and Clara exchanged uncertain looks. "It was… good.." River said slowly.

"Ummm, do you mean good as in 'good' or good as in 'bad'?" Roxanna asked.

"I guess, good." Clara said, "We got to track down some criminals that stole from an abandoned warehouse."

"Awesome!" Lola exclaimed. "Did you get into any fights?"

"Umm, not really. Ember had a chase-down, though." Kiara told them.

"That's so cool! Who were you shadowing? Did you get a senior team?"

Ember rubbed the back of her neck. "You could say that."

"We were with team RWBY," Clara said.

"Wait, team _RWBY?_ As in the legendary huntresses? The unbeatable warriors? The youngest and most powerful champions to ever live?" Finn put his hands on either sides of his head.

River laughed awkwardly, "Heh, _yeah_. That just about sums it up."

"I seriously hate you so much right now, Lola." Roxanna sighed.

"Hey, enough chit-chat, we're gonna be late to combat class." River got up from the table and picked up her tray.

"Alright, alright." Ember said, jumping up as well. The others quickly followed.

R…..E…..C…..K

"Hello, students of Beacon Academy."

As Professor Goodwitch strided through the door, the crowded combat classroom fell silent. "And hello, visiting students of Shade and Haven. I wish you all a warm welcome and luck in the tournament. Because of the tournament, today's class will be...different." The professor straightened her glasses. With a swish of her crop, a big wooden door in the side of the wall opened. "Everyone out onto the school grounds please."

The students looked at one another and began to murmur.

"Hurry up now, we don't have all day." Goodwitch motioned towards the door.

Students immediately got up and started making their way over to the door and out into a big green field.

"Why did I never notice that giant door there before?" Clara asked her teammates.

"I think the better question is: What is waiting for us through that giant door?" Yatsohide said.

"Alright, then what's waiting for us through that giant door?" Roxanna asked him.

"How should I know?"

"Well you were the one who said it first. I was just doing what you told me."

"I didn't mean that you should ask _me._ I just said that it was-"

"He-hem."

The teams looked up to see professor Goodwitch staring at them from beside the door.

"Eh-heh." Lola laughed awkwardly. "We were just going… out this giant door… like you told us to."

Both teams smiled guiltily and slipped past the professor and out onto the green grass.

When everyone had made it outside, Goodwitch followed, closing the door behind her.

"Today will be, as you may have noticed, a little different. As your teacher, it is in my best interest to insure you are prepared for anything you come across. And in this case, that would be the Vytal tournament." She marched across the damp grass into the middle of the mass of students. "So instead of the usual: having one battle at a time while the others take notes, we'll split into two team pairs to practice what it will be like in the tournament."

"Awesome, we all get to fight today!" Lola exclaimed.

"I was hoping to burn off some energy." Roxanna said, cracking her knuckles.

The professor continued, "Just like the tournament, we will have you fight team against team. Then you'll break off into pairs, and then singles. I want you to fight your best. Do not take your time and stop to learn your own skills like we would in a normal class. Now is the time to put those skills to the test. Give it your all."

The field was filled with cheers at the excited teens got themselves pumped up to fight.

"I am so ready for this." Clara said. "I haven't had an all out fight in a long time. I was getting bored."

Goodwitch walked around the field, assigning teams to other teams to fight. When she got to teams RECK and RYFL, the friends stood closely together so that they would be paired.

The professor stopped in front of them and looked them up and down. "Hmm," She squinted at them. "Team RYFL, is it? You'll be paired to team PR(i)SM from Haven."

"What?" Finn started. "But what about-"

"Hey guys." Someone from the exchange team clapped Finn on the back. "Let's get this fight on."

Team RECK watched in disappointment as their friends got dragged away from them.

"But Professor, who will we fight with?" River asked

"Ah, yes, there is one team left that is yet to be paired. Team BLCK."

The four girls watched in horror as Braxton, Larson, Chazz, and Kassandra all walked up with big smirks on their faces.

"Did you miss us?" Braxton asked. As soon as the professor was out of earshot he leaned closer to them, menacingly, "Remember that little game you started back at the cafeteria?"

"What are you talking about? You started that." Clara growled.

"Well, we're not finished playing yet." Kassandra said.

"The 'game' is already over, and you lost it." River said snarkily.

"Well, we're starting a new round, and we'll see how much fun you're having when you're laying on the ground, begging for mercy." Braxton smirked

"We'll see about that." River said, anger burning in her voice as she and Braxton exchanged glares.

"Begin!" they heard Professor Goodwitch call.

Braxton yelled and charged towards them with his sword. Kiara, who was the closest, took a step back in surprise. Clara stepped in front of her and met Braxton's blow, which was powerful enough to push her several feet back. She ran towards him again. He spun around and aimed for her legs but she blocked again. They went back and forth, aiming for weak spots: arms, side, knee, back. The sound of metal on metal reverberated through the air.

Meanwhile, Ember had taken Larson as her opponent.

"You freaking- creepy- little, jerk!" Ember yelled, swinging her staff into different parts of his body over and over, "Just wait 'till I get my hands on you."

Larson, who could see that she was agitated, decided to use it against her. "I wouldn't mind that." He smirked, trying to block her blows with his brass knuckles.

Ember flattened her ears in anger, "Why you-" She ran at him, throwing all she had at him.

River just barely got out of the way of Larson, who was shoved into her path by Ember. "Watch what you're doing!" River yelled.

Chazz jumped in front of River and swung his double-headed axe at her. "You better watch what _you're_ doing if you don't wanna get minced."

River bent backwards to escape his blade, losing her balance. She quickly rolled backwards and regained her composure. "Let's see how smart you are with a knife in your face, loser." She grabbed a handful of knives and sent them flying through the air towards him.

His eyes widened and he quickly maneuvered his axe to deflect them, sending sharp 'pinging' noises into the air. He growled and charged at her again.

Kassandra was walking slowly toward Kiara, eyes narrowed, and smirk on her face, "Well, well. Looks like it's you and me. What're you gonna do without your friends here to protect you?"

Kiara's heart started pounding in her chest. She got into her stance, hands shaking and sweaty. She glanced around her. There were teams fighting in groups everywhere and the sounds of battle filled her ears. Her teammates were all preoccupied with their own fights. Kassandra was right, she was alone.

Ember caught sight of Kiara out of the corner of her eye. "Kiara stop listening to her. You're a well-trained huntress-in-training. Stop thinking and _fight_!"

Kiara bit her lip. She looked back at Kassandra and narrowed her eyes.

"Aww, is the little baby mad?" Kassandra snickered.

Kiara yelled out and charged at Kassandra. Caught off guard, the older girl raised her club just in time to block Kiara's blow, but not in time to keep from falling backwards. She quickly flipped to her feet and growled. "Oh, now you're asking for it, pip-squeak." She ran towards Kiara but Kiara blocked the strike and maneuvered her sword so fast at Kassandra that the girl only managed to block a few strikes. Kassandra fell onto one knee, supporting herself with her club.

Kiara was focused. She flipped on her huntress switch and there was nothing that could turn it off now. She practically flew at Kassandra: Slash, jab, twist, block, swipe, turn. The two flew into a rhythm, forgetting everyone around them except for each other. Sweat beaded on both of their foreheads.

Kassandra was growing more and more frustrated. She jumped away from Kiara, breaking the pattern of strikes and swung her club into Kiara's gut. Kiara grunted and landed on the ground.

Kassandra smirked, "Thought you were real slick, huh princess?"

Again, doubt crept back into Kiara's mind.

Kassandra continued, "You see? It's all just a hoax. You pretend to be strong. You pretend to be brave. But deep inside you're just a coward."

Kiara clutched her stomach. She looked back up at Kassandra and set her jaw. "The only one with hoaxes around here is you. And if you can't see that then you're tricking yourself."

Kiara jumped, activating her semblance to give herself a boost over Kassandra.

"What the... how are you-"

Kiara landed on the other side of her. She narrowed her eyes and focused her aura to her sword hand. Kassandra ran at her, but Kiara was ready. She ducked under Kassandra's swinging club and thrust her sabre into her side with a yell.

Kassandra screamed. Overpowered by Kiara's aura, Kassandra's own aura dropped into the red, and she fell to the ground.

Kiara lowered her own sword, panting heavily. She had won. Knowing that Kassandra wouldn't fight with her low aura, she quickly looked around to find her other teammates. They were all still fighting.

Ember held a tight hold on her lead over Larson and the boy was resorting strictly to defense to keep himself in. Clara and Braxton were still going strong. Chazz was still fighting River but she clearly had the upper hand.

Ember used her staff to send Larson flying. He smashed into Chazz, where they both fell to a bumbling heap on the ground. Clara got a good blow in on Braxton, forcing him backwards so that his fallen teammates were directly behind him.

Kiara ran up to her teammates. They all surrounded the remainders of team BLCK.

"Everyone, go!" River yelled.

"Go where?" Clara yelled back.

"At...them!" River spluttered.

"All at once? Don't blame me if you get a stick in your face." Ember yelled.

"Just...Ember, go low, Kiara, high, Clara, left. Now!"

Team RECK spurred into action. With their combined auras, an explosion of green, orange, purple, and blue light smashed into team BLCK. There was an audible 'boom' that left smoke in its' wake, and when the smoke cleared, team BLCK was laying in a shallow divot in the ground, unconscious or too hurt to move.

"That...was awesome." Clara gasped between breaths.

Ember fell to the ground. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No. What Kiara did was awesome. She single-handedly took out a second-year almost half-a-size bigger than her."

"Yeah, what was that?! You've totally been holding out on us." River took one of her hands off her knees and clapped Kiara on the shoulder.

"I- um...It was nothing." Kiara stammered.

"Oh no you don't." Ember swallowed, trying to slow her breathing, "Stop discrediting yourself and just take the stupid compliment! It's the truth anyway."

"Thank you." Kiara said quietly.

Professor Goodwitch, who had been walking in circles around the field, observing the students, walked up to them with a surprised look on her face. "Well done, team RECK. That was a good match. You can head over to the stand and get some aura enhancers so that you'll be ready for the next round." She said, pointing over to a table that had been set up near the door to the combat classroom. "Professor Peach will be monitoring the table. Oh, and," She glanced down at team BLCK, "Perhaps bring some for them as well. It doesn't look like they'll be getting up any time soon."

Team RECK caught their breath and made their way over to the stand.

"What the heck is aura enhancer?" Clara asked.

"I'm glad you asked." Yatsohide said from behind them. Team RYFL had finished their round and had caught up to them.

Yatsohide straightened his glasses. "The Atlas school of biology has been intensely researching aura and its properties for the last decade. They've been studying the factors of it: Where it comes from, how exactly it manifests, how the limits vary from person to person, etc. After years of hard work and dedication, they made a breakthrough. Though it has not been made official to the public, the Atlas Aura Project ™ has found a way to strengthen a person's aura, making it grow tenfold. With a special chemical formula of dust and human hormones that were found to be linked to a person's aura, they have found a way to- as it says in the title- enhance one's aura."

"...Wow, I'm glad we have a nerd in the group." Roxanna said.

They all walked up to the stand, where the mysterious Professor Peach was facing away from them. "Take one per person," the Professor croaked, pointing to the small glass vials that were sitting all lined up on the table.

"Okay then? I guess that explains that." River picked up a vial and her friends followed. The vials were filled with a strange green substance that had a light glow.

"Is this going to hurt?" Lola asked.

"Does dust hurt?" Yatsohide asked.

"Um, yes! Sometimes. I thought you were the smart one."

Yatsohide face-palmed. "That was a rhetorical question. And _this_ ," he pointed to his vial. "Might sting a little on the way down, but don't worry. You won't notice the pain with what else happens."

"What else happens?" Finn asked, suddenly nervous.

"Just drink it and you'll see." Clara said.

They all looked at each other nervously.

"On the count of three," said River, "One. Two. Three!"

Both teams downed the green substance in one gulp.

Roxanna gasped "Woah, what the-"

"I feel really tingly all over." Lola grinned.

"Oh man, I can feel it working." Ember laughed.

When the feeling died, they all looked themselves over. Much to their surprise, their auras were all faintly glowing.

"Hey, my bruise is gone." Finn said.

"I think we have to go take some of this to team BLCK now." Kiara said.

Team RECK was silent for a moment.

"Fine." River growled. She picked up two containers of the substance and Ember grabbed the other two. Reluctantly, they headed over to their opponents.

"We're gonna go back to our other team, I guess. See you after class." Roxanna waved.

Team RECK walked up to team BLCK and practically shoved the vials in their face.

"What is this, poison?" Braxton asked.

"No, you idiot, it's aura enhancer. Everyone gets one." Clara said.

"This doesn't mean we don't hate you." River glared at them. She and her friends turned away from team BLCK.

"This is so cool, though." Ember said, "Do you realize what we could use this for? We would never have to sit around and wait for our auras to regenerate ever again."

"That's the point, Ms. Egnaro." Professor Goodwitch walked up behind the group. "This discovery could prove very helpful, or very dangerous. Just like any worthful, or hard-to-come-by invention, there will be those that use it for good and those that use it for bad. The Atlas incorporation has been generous enough to offer free samples to our school for testing purposes. So please, try not to spread this around."

"Yes, m'am." Clara said.

"Woah, I feel awesome!"

The four girls turned around to see team BLCK on their feet, looking at themselves in amazement.

Braxton looked up and smirked, "You got lucky that time, but there's only so long before luck runs out. And when yours does, we'll be there to punch you in the face." He cracked his knuckles.

Clara rolled her eyes."We'll see if you even _have_ a face when we're done with you."

Professor Goodwitch had walked back up to the front to the field. "Students, please hurry and get back to your opponents. We're running a little late, so we'll only have time for the second round; the doubles. If you are planning on entering the tournament, I suggest you pair the two teammates that you wish to send to the doubles."

Team RECK looked at each other.

"Who are we sending to the doubles?" Clara asked. They all were silent.

River finally spoke, "Look, it doesn't matter. We don't even know if we'll make it to the tournament. Let's just take this opportunity as… as partner training. Ember and Kiara, Clara and I."

Ember nodded. "She's right. I like that idea."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Clara said.

"I'm good with it." Kiara shrugged.

"Has everyone formed their pairs?" Goodwitch asked. "Good. Get ready to fight."

River grabbed a knife and twirled it between her fingers "Let's do this."

Ember nodded. "Here we go."

 **A/N: Some interesting stuff will be happening next chapter so stay tuned for that! ...That's all I have to say so see you next week!**

 **-Jay**


	21. Chapter 21: Back to Kind of Normal Pt 2

**A/N: Hey guys, happy Easter, or spring, or national bulldog day, or whatever you want to celebrate! This is kind of a second part of the last chapter which is convenient because I couldn't think of a separate name for it. I kind of wish I had just stuck to plain old numbers. But anyway, hope you enjoy!**

 **-Jay**

 _River grabbed a knife and twirled it between her fingers "Let's do this."_

 _Ember nodded, "Here we go."_

Team BLCK turned towards team RECK. They had split into pairs: Braxton and Larson, and Kassandra and Chazz. River immediately stepped up to Braxton's pair and Clara followed.

"I'm about to mop the floor with you suckers." Braxton grinned in a very unfriendly way.

"Really? And how are you planning to mop grass?" Clara asked.

"Well- I," Braxton stuttered. He growled, "Shutup!"

"Everyone, you may begin fighting." Goodwitch called across the field.

Braxton heaved his sword above his shoulder and charged toward Clara and River. Clara met his sword with hers while River dodged around them and struck Braxton in the side with the butt of her knife. Larson quickly took on River and punched her to the ground with his brass knuckles. She scrambled to roll back up and got into a fighting stance.

Clara and Braxton had locked swords and were in a battle of strength as they pushed back and forth.

"I beat you once. What makes you think you'll win this time?" Clara grunted, shoving her weight into her sword.

Braxton smirked. "Because I'm ten times stronger." He shoved back, and Clara was forced to give up. Her sword slid down his, leaving sparks in their wake. Clara spun around and faced Braxton. Already, he was coming at her again and they fell into another bout of fighting.

Meanwhile, Ember and Kiara were doing their best to fight Kassandra and Chazz. It didn't help that Kassandra was strengthened by her burning anger at the fact that she got pummeled by a first year who was more than half a foot shorter than herself.

Ember almost caught Chazz in the shoulder with her staff, but he managed to dive forward and knock Ember off her feet.

"Had fun with Larson, didn't you? Unfortunately I'm not as much of an idiot as he is," Chazz said.

"Talking about your teammates behind their back?" Ember jumped up and activated her semblance of invisibility. "That's a little rude, don't you think?" She slammed the tip of her staff into his stomach, then flipped it around his back to shove him forwards onto the ground behind her. He yelped and just barely got his hands out in front of him to stop his fall. He flipped around so that he had his hands on the ground behind him.

Ember charged forwards but Chazz kicked his legs into her stomach and sent her flying over his head right into Kiara. The two girls fell sprawled onto the ground. Ember was the first to scramble up and grab Kiara's hand to pull her up as well.

Kassandra and Chazz re-grouped and took the opening to charge at the two girls together. Ember and Kiara got into stance, arm to arm, and blocked their oncoming attackers.

Kassandra and Ember locked weapons. "C'mon and give up and we'll take you down easy," Kassandra growled.

"Over my dead body!" Ember grunted and shoved harder against the other girl.

"It might come to that." Kassandra answered darkly.

Ember rolled her eyes and stopped shoving, letting Kassandra fall forward and slam into Kiara.

Kiara yelled as she fell to the ground again. "Can you guys please stop shoving people on me!"

"Sorry!" Ember yelled back. She lunged forward and shoved Chazz backwards with her staff to stop him from jumping Kiara.

Kassandra and Kiara both scrambled up and faced each other once again. Kiara's bout of confidence had worn off between fights and her anxiety returned tenfold as Kassandra charged at her with a dangerous look in her eyes. She quickly took a step back and focused, launching herself off the ground. With her new aerial view she could see her teammates and opponents fighting amongst themselves.

River was having a very hard time dodging Larson's fast kicks and punches, and Clara wasn't doing much better.

River ducked under Larson's roundhouse kick and spun her knife in her hand to face downwards before thrusting it into her opponents side. Larson yelled as his aura shuddered at the blow and jumped out of the way of River's blade.

River noticed the hand that reached into his pocket, but what she didn't see was the handful of almost invisible, toxically dangerous projectiles that he pulled out. It happened so fast she had almost no time to react. The next thing she knew, she felt a piercing pain through her body, like a thousand flaming razor blades slicing through her skin. She screamed and fell onto her knees.

Whatever Larson had used, it had broken through River's aura completely. She had lost the fight, and left Clara alone. She felt the sharp jab of self-disappointment prick her almost as sharply as the… whatever Larson had thrown at her.

River, who had squeezed her eyes shut in pain, opened them to examine what was causing her such pain. To her surprise and confusion, she found small glowing shards of something almost glass like all over her body. She looked at them in shock. It didn't look like dust. In fact, it didn't look like anything she had ever seen before. She looked back up at Larson and was startled to see a malicious look in his eyes. He clenched his fists and got into a fighting stance.

 _What is he doing? My aura's clearly down already. Is he trying to fight?_ River thought wildly as she struggled and failed to stand and fell back down to her knees.

Clara and Braxton were dueling with the same fierceness as before. Their blades clanged against each other. Clara tried to keep an eye on River, but just as she did back in training with Tom at home, she lost focus on everything except what was right in front of her. Braxton became the only thing in her sight as they rhythmically danced around each other in close combat.

It wasn't until she heard River's scream that she finally snapped out of her trance and reawoke to the world around her. She slipped out of range from Braxton and glanced over to see River on her knees. She saw River's aura flash forest-green, indicating that it had broken.

Clara gritted her teeth. She wouldn't be able to fight off the two second-years by herself. The match was practically lost already.

As if proving her point, Braxton lunged at her and knocked her blade from her hand. He grinned. "What're you gonna do now?"

Clara was about to give a retort, when she noticed something was off. She glanced at Larson and noticed his clenched fists and tense posture. Instead of stepping down, Larson seemed to be building himself up for another attack. Was she seeing things? Wait.… Yeah, no he was definitely planning to attack.

"Hey, loser!" She yelled, "Her aura's already down!"

Larson's gaze flickered to Clara for a fraction of a second. He had definitely heard her, but he wasn't backing down.

"What the hell!?" Clara slipped around Braxton and swiftly starting walking towards the other pair.

"Hey, get back here!" Braxton yelled after her.

Panic filled Clara's brain as Larson raised his fists. River was half-kneeling, half-standing as she tried and failed to stand up. Clara started walking faster, eyes darting back and forth between the two.

Larson yelled out and charged at River.

"No!" Clara broke into a run. She jumped and slid in front of River just as Larson was about to deliver his blow. Clara gasped as she realized a second too late that without her sword, she'd have nothing to block the bone-crushing brass knuckles. She crossed her arms in front if her face and squeezed her eyes shut, one thought running clear through her mind: _Don't let River get hurt._ She tensed her muscles as she prepared herself physically and mentally for the blow that was to come

… But it never did. Clara vaguely heard the sounds around her: River's heavy breathing in her ear. Larson's gasp of surprise. Braxton's exclamation of shock. The strange buzzing, humming sound that sounded almost like flowing electricity.

Slowly, Clara opened her eyes. She nearly fell over backwards when she saw the purple, shield-like, oval of light that was blocking Larson's fist from making contact with her head. It seemed to be coming from _her_. It was directly in front of her right hand, which felt tingly and warm.

After a solid three seconds of shock, Larson seemed to realize his predicament and leapt away from the two girls.

"What are you doing?" River asked Clara in wonder.

"I… I don't know. Is this my aura? It feels different."

Clara didn't get to keep questioning the strange new power as Braxton lunged forward to strike her with his sword. Clara moved her hand in front of her again. When Braxton's blade made contact with the strange shield it reverberated off with a force that flung the sword backwards, along with person holding it. Braxton stumbled backwards wide-eyed and confused.

Clara looked at the circle of light just as it flickered and died out.

"Students, would you like to explain what just happened over here?" Professor Goodwitch pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she came marching across the grass.

Clara helped River up from the ground and said, "He saw River's aura break and he was about to attack her again!" She pointed angrily at Larson.

Professor Goodwitch turned to him. "Is this true?"

"No! I didn't see her aura break!" Larson yelled back.

"There's literally no way you couldn't have. Plus, I saw you look at me when I shouted it to you across the field!"

"I didn't do anything! Braxton, tell her I didn't do anything-"

"That's enough." Professor Goodwitch took a step forwards. "It is a crime to attack someone with a broken aura in a tournament, and I don't care what happened, but I never want to hear something like this in my class again, do you understand me?"

Larson balled up his fists and said through a clenched jaw, "Yes… mam."

"But what about that weapon he used on me?" River spoke suddenly.

"What are you talking about?" The professor asked.

"The reason why my aura broke is because he threw a handful of weird shards at me." River looked down at herself, but to her surprise she could no longer see any remains of the fragments on herself.

"What are you talking about, Riv?" Clara asked.

River stuttered in confusion and panic, "I- what? Just… check his pockets." She said.

Everyone looked at Larson expectantly. The boy just smirked a little and emptied his pockets. The only thing in them was his scroll and a wrapper from something.

Professor Goodwitch turned towards River sternly. "I think we've had enough unnecessary drama for one day."

River stared at Larson in astonishment, while he smirked back.

Professor Goodwitch looked at her scroll, then back up at the field of students. "May I have everyone's attention," She yelled across the field, "Stop your fights and start heading inside. We've run out of time and will have to continue this next class. Remember, if you're looking for extra practice we will be holding more practice duels on the weekends to prepare for the Vytal Festival. Thank you."

The students (Some reluctantly and some gratefully) made their way across the wide field and back towards the combat classroom. Ember and Kiara ran up beside River and Clara, out of breath.

"What happened? Did you guys lose?" Ember asked them.

"We didn't get to finish our fight," River replied. "What about you?"

"We lost ours." Kiara frowned.

"Why was Goodwitch talking to you? Did something happen?" Ember continued to question.

"Hey, there they are!" Finn shouted across the field from where he and his team were standing. "We're gonna be late to class. Let's go!"

River frowned. "We'll tell you later," she told Ember and Kiara.

Ember sighed, "Yeah, I'm used to hearing that one." She looked up to see her teammates already jogging away from her and towards team RYFL. "Hey, get back here!" She yelled, and took off after them.

R…..E…..C…..K

Team RECK had finally made it back to their dorm after a tiring day of academics and training. Kiara was sitting on her bed. River and Clara were sitting on chairs and Clara was brushing her hair. Ember was laying spread out on her back on the ground.

"So… combat class- Larson. What happened?" Ember asked, reaching her arms above her head before letting them fall back down.

River sighed, "Well, It was a good thing we ended the matches earlier. My aura broke thanks to that jerk. We would have lost."

"And you would have gotten hurt." Clara said. She pulled the brush that she was holding through her silky brown hair and turned to Ember and Kiara. "Larson tried to attack her after her aura had already broken."

"What?!" Ember exclaimed

"Why would he do something like that?" Kiara asked, shocked.

"Beats me. But if Clara hadn't come and blocked me I'd probably have a broken nose and a concussion or something." River told them, crossing her legs and leaning back in her chair. "What was that anyway, Clara? You blocked that with your bare hands, and there was a purple light. Either you have supernatural powers, or you have the most developed aura I've ever seen."

"I don't know what it was," Clara set her hairbrush beside her on the chair and frowned. "I've never done that before. It's been bothering me all day. But… I've been thinking..."

"About what?" Ember asked.

"Well, what if it's… I mean, I'm not sure, but I was thinking maybe-"

"Clara, what is it?" River asked impatiently, uncrossing her legs.

Clara frowned. "Well, I just thought, what if it was my semblance?"

A long silence filled the room and Clara looked away from her teammates nervously.

"...O-ooh." River said quietly.

Ember sat up, leaning backwards on her hands. "Y'know that would actually make sense."

Clara almost smiled when she saw her friend's reactions. So maybe she wasn't crazy.

"I'm not sure though," Clara said, "It was new but… it didn't feel new. Like, when you find your aura, it feels a certain way. Like you can feel it, almost like a switch you can turn on and off. But what I did, didn't feel much different. Aura works kind of like a shield, so what if that was just some crazy boost of aura or something?"

"Well you're forgetting that semblance is kind of attached to aura," Kiara pointed out. "Your semblance is powered by aura, but it's unlocked separately. Most people think that aura is kind of a mental and spiritual thing. What were you thinking when… whatever happened, happened?"

Clara looked at her lap in thought. "I don't know. I was just trying to keep River from getting hurt. I guess that's all I was thinking about; so much that I forgot I didn't have my sword."

Kiara nodded. "Well that makes sense. As someone who found their semblance a little bit later, I kind of remember the moment. I think for me, at the time it wasn't working to improve or get to a final goal, or about trying attempt something. It was like 'I need to do this'. No: 'I'm going to do this'. And I did, just not in the way that I expected. I think that's just the power of will; being bigger than yourself."

Everyone was silent as they pondered their quiet teammate's words.

Ember broke the silence, "I think Kiara's right. And if it's really your semblance then you should be able to do it again, right?" She stood up.

"Yeah, try and do it again." River encouraged.

"Are you sure? I don't know if I can remember how to control it." Clara said.

"Well if you try it then maybe you'll find out." River crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Fine... " Clara stood up and looked at her hands. _It was on my hand, right? So try it on that hand… wait which hand was it?_ Clara growled in frustration as she tried to remember which hand she had put out in front of her the first time. _It was my right hand; my sword hand._

She raised her right hand and focused on it. Her hand shook as she strained the muscles in it and her face contorted into an expression of concentration. She tried to recall how it had felt the first time, but it felt like trying to remember a foggy dream. After 8 solid seconds she dropped her hand and gasped.

"I told you, I don't know how to do it again." Clara said in frustration, "Maybe it was just a fluke."

"That's because you're trying to do it physically. Semblance is a muscle, but not a physical one." Ember pointed out.

"Yeah, start by activating your aura," River said, "If semblance is rooted to aura then you'll need to use aura to harness it."

"Right," Clara huffed. She closed her eyes and focused on her aura. Soon she felt the warm glow surround her and she let out her frustration in a deep breath. When she wasn't in the middle of a battle she found her aura to be soothing: releasing the stiffness in her sore muscles and giving her a sense of safety and comfort. Again, she raised her right hand.

"Just relax," Ember coaxed, "Tap into your aura, but go beyond it. It'll be like a door in your mind. You're so close to it, and now all you have to do is open it up."

Clara lifted her chin and tried to focus with her mind. She _did_ feel something new inside of her, but it was almost unnoticeable. The only way she could describe it was that it had always been there, but it was only now that she could see it as well as feel it. She focused on that part of her mind, almost like she was reaching towards it to touch it.

It was as if she had been on one side of a curtain, and had pushed it aside to pass through. Suddenly she heard the low humming sound again, but whether it was in her mind or could be heard in the physical world she couldn't tell.

When she heard River gasp, she slowly opened her eyes. To her surprise, it didn't feel very strange. She had always expected her semblance to feel foreign, like a new sense of power. But the purple light that she was admitting felt natural. It was her same energy, but in a different form.

Ember laughed out loud, "You did it!" She clenched her fists in front of her and rocked up and down in excitement. River and Kiara cheered and laughed as well.

Their laughter proved contagious and Clara had to let out a laugh of joy. "I did it! I finally found my aura. I've waited so long, and I finally found it."

Clara's teeth showed in the brightest smile she'd exhibited in a very long time. She couldn't contain the joy that bubbled up inside of her.

"I think it's a kind of force field," she told her teammates. As she watched the purple light that shone, she noticed it slowly spreading up her arm. Curious, she focused her energy to the other hand. The light flickered and died on her right hand and sprung up again on her left. "I can control where it's centered too."

"That's so cool!" River said.

Clara's spontaneous joy faded away quickly as she felt a sudden wave of fatigue hit her. She gasped, quickly released her semblance.

"That gets really tiring, really fast," she panted, wiping her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand.

"Using an undeveloped semblance usually would," River smiled knowingly.

"It's going to take a lot of work to get your semblance built up." Kiara nodded seriously.

Ember smiled. "Don't worry! We'll help you train," she said, pointing at Clara with finger guns and a grin.

River put her hand to her chin, "Hmmm, training…" she muttered.

"What?" Kiara asked.

River's face grew firm and she looked up at her team. "Guys, I've been thinking."

"That's a dangerous pastime." Ember piped up.

River gave her a deadpan expression. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," she said, "Anyway, I kind of realized that I haven't once really acted out as a leader of our team."

"That's not entirely true," Clara said.

"No, I mean think about it. There were some times when I should have stepped up to the plate, but instead I hung back because I was worrying about myself. It made me feel guilty and it got me thinking: since we've gotten to Beacon we've done nothing to strengthen ourselves as a team. I mean, sure we spend time together as friends and we live in the same room, but that's about it. And seeing team RWBY's dynamics made me realize how important a strong team is, and how far we were missing that mark."

"Well, you have to remember that team RWBY has been together over four years and have been through a lot," Ember said, "And we've only known each other for a semester. We'll never be at the same level as them."

"No, but isn't that more of a reason to try and work for that?" River asked. "I just feel like we're going through the motions of basic training and classes. I mean, we're supposed to be apart of the next generation of huntsmen! If we were here to take classes and spend our lives always just pulling through to get that good grade then we wouldn't be at one of the most _prestigious_ academies on all of Remnant. If we really want to be something, then we need to go the extra mile. Put in the most effort. Because if everyone in this school was here to be at the same level, have the same training as everyone else around them, and follow the same path, then they might as well be an army of robots."

The room fell silent. River's teammates stared at her, digesting what she had just thrown upon them.

River breathed out deeply and gripped the back of the chair in front of her. "We're not robots. And I'm not going to be a robot. I'm going to be me. And if we work our hardest to be our best selves then there is _nothing_ in the world that can replace us."

Clara looked her teammate in the eyes, "You know, this wasn't how I expected my life to turn out. But I couldn't escape it if I tried. And if I'm going to be forced to become a huntress then I'm going to become the best damn huntress you'll ever meet. I'm with you."

"So am I," Kiara spoke. "All my life, I knew I wanted to be a huntress. To be more than anyone thought I could be, including myself. So that's what I plan on doing."

Ember shrugged, "I just wanted to have a life worth living. Not for myself, but for others. I always thought that the right cause would come. One that I would fight for." She smiled. "I think you guys are a pretty good cause. I'll fight with you."

River grinned. "I feel like we should do a 'Let's go team!' thing or something."

"How about we go to sleep instead?" Clara suggested abruptly .

"Okay," Kiara said quickly, sliding into her bed, "I'm so tired I was about to fall asleep on my feet."

Ember laughed but got cut off by a yawn. "That's sounds perfect." She said, rubbing her eyes.

River pouted. "You guys suck."

The four teammates laughed.

 **A/N: So… which parts did you maybe find awkward or out of place? Because I think there were a few but it's nice to have more opinions. Other than that, I think we wrote what we envisioned pretty well and are satisfied with it. Thank for all your support even if it's not much.**

 **Also, just a heads up that the four of us will be busy or out of town and stuff next week and won't be able to post the next chapter on time, so sorry about that guys but we'll try and make it nice and long to make up for it. Sorry for the long A/N. We'll see you later! (in two weeks?)**

 **-Jay**


	22. Chapter 22: Wakey, wakey

**A/N: Heyyyyy guys! Sorry it's been so long since we've posted the last chapter. I won't waste time on excuses but, yeah, we were busy. We only have two or three more chapter left in this volume and they will be very packed and plot filled so yay!**

 **Okay I'll shut up now. Enjoy this chapter!**

 **-Jay**

It was a fine and crisp Friday morning at Beacon Academy. The sun had not yet risen, and the students of said academy were tucked snug in their dorm room beds to protect themselves from the morning's chilly fall bite. All except for one…

River Bay perched on the footboard of Ember's bed and peeked into her partner's bed. Luckily, Clara liked to sleep opposite the way her bed intended, giving River an almost clear view of the side of her partner's face, save for the parts that strands of her dark brown hair fell upon.

River grinned as she loomed over her softly sleeping teammate. Lifting one of her hands off of the wooden frame of the bed, she reached over to Clara's face and gave her cheek a gentle poke.

"Clare-y," she whispered in a sing-song voice, "Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey! Or, bacon or, whatever."

Clara squeezed her eyes shut tighter and slapped the hand that still lingered above her face, rolling over to her side. "What do you want, Riv?" she mumbled.

"It's time get up and get on your dancing pants. We don't wanna slack off, do we?"

Clara groaned and flipped onto her stomach. "What is wrong with you, River? And what the heck are you talking about?" She pulled her scroll out from underneath her pillow and squinted her eyes to spare them from the light that gushed from the device as she turned it on. "What time is it, even?"

River made a small stuttering sound. She quickly stepped down from Clara's bed and made a beeline to the other side of the room.

"River _freaking_ Bay!"

"Actually, my middle name is Esmeralda." River reluctantly turned around, which she immediately regretted as she got a pillow flung in her face, almost knocking her off balance.

"Why the hell would you wake me at six-thirty in the frickin morning? What is wrong with you?" Clara yelled from her bed.

"Why is everyone screaming? Go back to bed!"

Clara and River both turned their heads to Kiara's bunk where she had buried her head under her pillow.

"Yeah, you better have a really good explanation for this." Clara turned back to River from where she was laying on her side.

River smiled nervously, "I'm trying to install a new sense of responsibility to our team, starting with early rising for extra training."

Clara kicked her covers off of her and sat up. "Wait, you want us to get up and train at six-thirty in the morning every day?"

"Not every day. Just today." River bit her lip and avoided Clara's eyes.

Clara scoffed and jumped down from her bed. "I hate you so much."

River's eyes lit up. "You mean you'll do it?"

Clara scowled and trudged across the room to the clothing drawers that she shared with River. "What else am I supposed to do? I won't be able to fall back asleep now."

River heard a muffled groan from across the room, "Are you serious? Do I have to do this too?" Kiara lifted her head from underneath her pillow.

River grinned at Kiara, "Yup," she said. "Great, now all I have to do is wake up Ember."

"I'm already awake," Ember said quickly, "You guys are so mean. What part of _sensitive hearing_ don't you understand?"

"Well then, phase one of 'Operation _Go Team_ ' is complete."

Ember pushed herself out of bed and stumbled sleepily towards River. "Okay, who the heck are you and what did you do with River?"

River laughed, "I don't know. I do feel different, but in a good way."

"I don't know, sounds risky," Clara said, emerging from the bathroom in her training clothes. "Someone could have cloned her so that they could sneak somewhere and get secret info, like in the movies."

River looked at Clara skeptically. "What movies do you watch?"

Clara shrugged, "That's beside the point. Now, are we going to do this or did I get woken up at six-thirty for no reason?"

When the girls had all quickly gotten dressed and ready, River lead them to a field behind the dorm building where they stretched and warmed up for training.

"What kind of training are we doing again?" asked Ember, while doing some lunges.

River smiled, "I'm glad you asked. So, when we were in combat training yesterday and we split up into pairs, I thought about how we haven't gone very far beyond basic partner training. Ruby told me about team pair attacks and how they helped her team a lot, and recently I've been hearing other teams talk about them as well. So, I thought it was time to make our own."

"Okay?" Clara said, "Is that all?"

"And we'll work with your semblance too, Clara." River nodded. "But my favorite part of the team attacks is that we get to make up names for every pair."

"Names? Like what?" Kiara asked

"Like, combining our names and stuff. I've already got one for Ember and Clara: Foxglove."

"Foxglove? What's that supposed to mean?" Clara asked

"I see the fox part but what does that have to do with Clara?" Ember picked up her staff and extended it to lean on

"Oh, come on! Foxglove is a _purple_ plant." River rolled her eyes.

"Oh." Ember said. Then there was dead silence.

"Are you guys kidding me? That was literal genius and I get nothing?"

Clara put her hands on her hips. "Look, you woke us up at six a.m. to train, what do you expect?"

"It was six _thirty_." River reminded her.

"And that's about six hundred and thirty bruises you'll wish you didn't have after this."

River's face twisted into an expression of part laughter and part shock, "Wow, Clara, that was savage."

Clara laughed, "Let's just do this already."

River smiled and nodded. "Alright, so I've got an idea for an attack that would compliment Kiara and my skills. Here's what I'm thinking: Kiara uses her semblance to get up into the air- Kiara can you lift something while using your semblance?"

Kiara shuffled her feet, "I mean, I think so. I can carry my sword if that's what you mean."

"Do you think you could give someone a boost into the air?"

Kiara looked at River skeptically. "What are saying?"

River smiled, "Right, so my plan is: You get into the air and then I jump and you give me a boost up, then I take out my knives and send a shower of them at the target, and then as gravity takes control, you dive and we do an arm lock and use our momentum to launch you at the target."

"Wow, that's strangely thought out and precise." Ember said.

River smirked, "Thank you!' her face dropped, "Or, was that a compliment?"

"I think it'll work." Clara stepped forward. "But now you have to test it out."

"Do we have to?" Kiara asked nervously.

"Yes! C'mon Ki, it'll work." River put a hand on Kiara's back.

"But we're right behind the dorm buildings. What if someone saw us?" Kiara asked, glancing back at the giant building where hundreds of students currently resided.

"Who the heck would be up at six-forty in the morning?" River asked incredulously.

"Exactly! Why are we here?" Clara huffed, crossing her arms.

"I did this for that exact reason, that no one could bother us," River said in frustration. She turned back to her smallest and most conflicted teammate and said roughly, "Kiara, if you want to be a huntress you're going to have to get over your insecurities and just do it for once."

"Woah, calm down, River." Ember frowned.

"Do _not_ tell me to calm down. How can I be calm when I have the least cooperative team ever?"

"Just because you're the leader doesn't make you better than us," Clara scoffed, "You can't do whatever you want, _you_ have to cooperate with your teammates and actually _listen_ to what they're telling you."

"I _am_ listening! All I hear is you guys complaining," River growled.

"Okay, are we going to actually do anything or are you guys just going to yell at each other the whole time?" Ember asked in annoyance.

"Be quiet, Ember, you're not helping the situation," Clara said.

Ember's expression quickly turned to one of shock and anger. "Me? You guys are literally having a petty argument behind the school dorms while I could be in bed. What was the point of this?"

"I'm not even sure anymore." River glared at her teammates, "Obviously, you guys don't care about improving."

Kiara sighed quietly in frustration, "Can we just do the attack before you guys start actually fighting?"

River quickly took the excuse to turn away from Clara. "Yes, let's do this."

"So… I have to use my semblance?" Kiara asked.

"Yes." River closed her eyes and let out her left over anger in a huff. "Ember, you help Clara work on her semblance."

"Fine." Clara said quickly and turned to Ember.

River sighed again, "Okay so, don't fly too high because I have to be able to reach you," she told Kiara.

"Right." Kiara replied. She gathered her aura and activated her semblance so that she was hovering four feet above the ground. "Is this good?" she asked.

River squinted as she estimated how high she could jump. "I think so," she replied. "Let's see."

Taking 8 large steps back, River examined her target and got ready to run. "Are you ready?" she called to Kiara.

"As I'll ever be," Kiara called back.

River nodded slightly and got into a stance to run. She bit her bottom lip and narrowed her eyes in concentration. Then she took off across the grass, gaining speed and momentum as she neared Kiara. When she was just a two feet from her teammate she leaped into the air, using her years of training to jump much higher than any normal civilian could. Kiara readied herself and placed her hands in front of her in the air as a foothold for River's foot. When River landed on her mark she was off by only an inch, but even that was enough to set their plan off balance. Kiara gathered her aura in her arms and tried to launch River into the air as planned, but between River's foot placement and the fact that Kiara was not comfortable with the angle yet, River was thrown at a slightly odd angle, causing her to twist in the air as she tried to get steady again.

In mid air, River put one hand on her knife pouch to continue the attack before panicking as she realized she couldn't possibly get her aim right in the position she was in. At the last minute, she pulled her hand away from her pouch and focused on twisting her body so that she landed on the ground in a shoulder roll.

Kiara also lowered herself to the ground and ran over to River. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

River swiftly rolled onto her feet. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. It wasn't your fault, Ki."

Kiara relaxed a bit but still retained a frown on her face. "I knew it wasn't going to work."

River rolled her eyes and groaned, "Omigosh, Kiara! Stop being so pessimistic. That was literally our first try, let's do it again."

Meanwhile, Ember was helping Clara focus on trying to get a better feeling for her semblance.

"So, another trick is to think thoughts similar to the ones you did the first time you triggered your semblance," Ember was saying to a very tired, very sweaty Clara, who had her bent over with her hands on her knees panting. "I know for aura we were taught to clear our minds of emotion, but semblance is a natural human defence a step higher than aura, and is linked more to the emotional side of us. Putting those empowering thoughts in your mind really helps to focus."

"That's… easy for you… to say," Clara gasped between breaths, "I'm just starting and... you're already pushing me harder and faster than I think... I've ever gone."

"I'm sorry!" Ember said, "I guess it's been awhile since I first practiced with my semblance, huh? I'll go lighter, but I just thought you'd be okay since you seem like an experienced fighter."

Clara frowned and stood up. "I've never been good with my aura. I've always been better at attack and defense patterns and stuff. But I guess that doesn't always work."

Ember put an arm around Clara's shoulders and gave her an encouraging smile, "Don't worry, we'll get you all caught up in no time. Soon you'll be able to incorporate your semblance into your attack patterns. I think your semblance will really compliment your style, but I guess that's kind of to be expected, huh?"

Although not always especially grateful for Ember's extremely optimistic views, Clara offered a small smile back to her teammate in gratitude, because she's always be grateful for how much thought and consideration Ember put in for others.

At seven-forty, team RECK finished up their training and started to cool off before they would head back to their dorm to get ready for the day. Clara and Ember had started testing out ideas for their team attack. River and Kiara had made significant progress with their attack and were both pleased with it. All of them were very tired and torn between their grief over having losing sleep, and their pride of making good progress in their training.

"Okay guys, let's get back inside so we can eat breakfast and get ready for classes in time." River announced to her teammates while playing with the towel she had over her neck.

They all let out sighs of relief and grabbed their gear to head inside.

"Hey, River?" Kiara walked beside her leader, Ember and Clara taking the lead nad walking in front of them.

"Yeah?" River asked.

"I… I think I have a… well a name."

River looked her in confusion. "Umm, yeah, we all do. You're Kiara, I'm River."

"No, like for the attack we're doing."

It took a moment for what Kiara said to click with River, but once it did River let out a large grin. "What is it?" she asked enthusiastically.

Kiara bit her lip with a sense of uncertainty. "What about: Waterfall? Like, because your name is River, like water. And then I fall- or dive."

"That's a great idea!" River exclaimed, "It's perfect! Waterfall; wow I wish I had come up with it."

Kiara gave a small, yet proud smile. "Cool. So we'll use it?"

"Of course!" River smiled back, "See, look at that, you're secretly a genius! But you won't get anywhere if you don't let that side of you come out."

Kiara looked at her feet as they walked. "Right." she said quietly, "I'm trying."

"Guys, hurry the heck up! I'm starving!" Ember called back from in front of them.

"Ditto." River said, smiling, "We're coming!" she called back.

 **A/N: So, we know we kind of did a fighting chapter after two previous ones but yeah, that's how it is, sorry. We got some good chapters coming to finish off the volume. After that, like we said before, we'll be taking a short hiatus to start the next volume which we have really huge plans for. The second volume will be its own story so make sure to follow us if you want to keep up.**

 **We know that this first volume had some flaws and awkward points so we'll probably go through and tweek some scenes, and majorly edit some lesser and plotless scenes, so if you think you would have enjoyed the story if it had better writing then hopefully we can help give that to you. But thank you for reading our non-typical OC Fanfic and we hope it was at least as interesting to some people to read as it was for us to write. See you next week, hopefully on time!**

 **-Jay, Ren, Em, and Mau**


	23. Chapter 23: The Letter

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry this chapter is so short, but enjoy!**

 **-Jay, Ren, Em, and Mau**

Ember and Kiara entered their dorm room after another day of brain-frying academics.

Ember threw herself into the nearest chair. "I'm so glad we didn't go to Vale city with the others," she said, referring to the rest of her team, along with team RYFL and two of their friends.

Kiara, although wanting to copy Ember and dump herself into her bed, went to gather some clean clothes to change into, as the ones she was wearing were covered in sweat and dirt from the day. "Even if you missed out on hanging out with Finn?" she asked.

Ember groaned, "You didn't have to bring that up! I have to do homework, he knows that. And besides, tomorrow is Saturday and we're going to spend time together then."

Kiara gave her partner an apologetic smile, "Sorry. I don't even know how everyone else is still standing." she said, "Between this morning and that dust theory test today, I think I'm going to pass out."

Ember laughed, "Feel free to do so. I love it when the dorm is empty and quiet, it feels so cozy." she pushed herself up from the chair and turned towards her desk, "I think I might even write part of that compound fire and gravity dust essay." she stopped when she saw something white and rectangular laying on the floor in front of the door.

When she realized what it was she snatched it up and looked at it. The white envelope was addressed to her, and she recognized Hank's handwriting.

"He wrote back!" she said excitedly, rushing to her bed and sitting down to open the letter. Hank and her family had been exchanging letters with her since the CCT connection wasn't very good in her old village. They wrote to each other about once a month, and Ember had been waiting for Hank to respond to her last letter.

"I'm going to shower and change." Kiara said quietly, slipping into the bathroom.

Ember gave a hum to indicate she had heard her partner and slipped the piece of paper out of its envelope and began to read it in her head:

 _Dear Ember,_

 _I'm sorry it's been awhile since I last wrote to you. I'm glad to hear you did well on your grimm studies test. You always were good at remembering grimm anatomy. I think I might have crossed that devil, Dante, before, so I can tell you that I'm sorry to hear that he's teaching your class._

 _Your family is doing well. We celebrated baby Moki's fourth birthday and he played catch with me in the front yard…_

Ember smiled at this. It was so great to hear that her family was doing well and having fun, even if she was missing out. And the image of her old mentor playing catch with her little brother was too cute. She was glad to have him in her life. After all, she wouldn't be where she was today without him.

 _Unfortunately, your other brother isn't as friendly with me…_

Ember's face darkened as she read on.

 _I've tried talking with him but he's very... defiant. I know I promised to look after him when you left but I've been having to do from quite a distance. I can tell when I do interact with him that he's trying to keep a shadow over something. Jayden seems more and more anxious everyday. He's been getting in trouble at school. Your parents think it's just teenage stress but I think it's something more; a lot more. I know you asked me not to mention it to your father but after some things I've found, I think it might come to that. I heard him talking to some boys that definitely weren't from his school, and I've never seen them in the village. I could see guns on two of them. I managed to listen in on one of their conversations and I suspect that it's just as you feared. They were talking about initiations for a band of some sort, and about his experience in combat and survival skills. They were showing him their guns, and they said something about a base in the eastern side of the forest where they had "connections"._

 _I can't piece everything together as much as I'm sure you can, but I know one thing: that your brother is headed down a dangerous road. I'll keep my promise and I'll watch over him until I can figure out what's going on and help him out of it. One thing I picked up from listening to them was a date they kept repeating. On a Thursday at midnight, two weeks from now; if he's going to run, it's going to be then._

 _Ember, I swear on my life I won't let it happen again. Your an amazing girl, and you've gone through too much already. I won't let you and your family down; I swear on my life._

Ember's mind was filled with panic. She quickly stuffed the letter back in it's envelope and held it tightly with both hands, her mind swirling.

 _Not Jayden!_ she thought, _I can't deal with that again, don't take Jayden!_ She fought the emotions that forced to break through inside of her: fear, anger, resentment, regret…

"Ember, are you okay?" A concerned Kiara emerged from the bathroom, hair dripping with water from her shower, and walked over to her teammate.

Ember quickly looked up, squeezing the envelope harder between her fingers and causing it to crease. "Yeah, I'm fine." she said, "I just… It's, my brother is being… difficult. He's thinking about… running away from home."

Kiara's brow furrowed in concern. "You mean… the other one?"

Ember had briefly told Kiara of her older brother but hadn't gone into much depth, insisting that it had been a long time ago and that it didn't matter.

"Yes, the other one!" Ember growled. Her face quickly softened and she looked up at Kiara. "I mean- Yes. I'm sorry, I'm not mad at you."

"...I know." Kiara said softly.

The dorm was filled with a heavy silence, but both girls snapped their heads up when they heard sounds of laughter coming from the hallway.

The next moment, the door to their room opened, and in burst Clara and River. Team RYFL was standing outside the door behind them.

"Hey guys." River said energetically.

"Hi, Ember." Finn waved from behind Clara.

Ember gave him a small smile. "Hey, Finn."

"Tell them!" Lola said, bouncing up and down with impatience.

"Us? Tell us what?" Kiara asked.

"You know the Vytal Tournament?" Clara asked.

"They're only so many teams that can get in to the tournament from each school, so they have to hold tests to see who gets in." River told them.

"Yeah?" Ember said, puzzled.

"And the tests are next weekend!" Lola burst out.

"...Wait, what?" Ember asked in astonishment.

"I know. That means we only have a week to train." River said.

"That's impossible, we'll never get in." Kiara exclaimed.

"Don't say that." River frowned.

"She's right, we hardly have a chance." Clara said, "I mean, I _just_ discovered my semblance."

"Yeah, well, you won't get anywhere with that attitude." Roxanna said, crossing her arms.

"Statistically, your team has a 49.983% chance of qualifying for the tournament." Yatsohide said, adjusting his glasses.

"Statistically, you should shut your mouth." Roxanna snapped.

"Great, so that's less than a half chance." Clara grumbled

"Well, it's still a chance I'm willing to take." River said firmly, "Are you in, or not?"

"I'm in." Ember said, standing up.

"Me too." Kiara said.

Clara sighed, "Fine. You know I'm in."

Lola pointed at all of team RECK "This means war! You are officially our enemies. We must start making out plans to overthrow you!" She grabbed Roxanna and Finn by the arm and dragged them behind her back to their dorm room.

"Hey, watch it!" they heard Roxanna yell.

Yatsohide looked at his friends, shrugged, and followed behind the rest of his team.

Team RECK stood in silence, staring after their strange companions before River spoke, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Lola is right. We should start making a training program. The Vytal tournament is extremely team based, at least for the first two rounds, and the entrance test is with for the whole team, so we need to focus all our attention on team-building exercises."

Clara sighed, "Is this how we're going to spend our Saturday tomorrow?"

River smirked, "You betcha!" .

 **A/N: So the next chapter will probably be nice and long. It will be the last on of the volume after all! :)**

 **Thank you guys so much and we'll see you next week.**

 **-Jay**


	24. Chapter 24: Finale

**A/N: WOAH, woah, woah! Hold up! I promise we didn't die OR abandon the story! I know it was awful having to wait for the last chapter but life got busy, which is why we wish we could have ended the volume just a little sooner. And why we won't posting over the summer. But, as promised this chapter is SUPER long so I hope it helps make up for it. Enjoy!**

 **-Jay**

Team RECK put every ounce of effort, every minute of their free time into training to qualify for the Vytal tournament. And although no one spoke it, each of the girls felt that entrance into the tournament would be their biggest personal achievement. All other goals were pushed to the back of their minds as they zeroed in on the thought that, by pushing past this seemingly impossible goal, they would be proving themselves to...themselves.

Unfortunately, between their distracted minds and the overall exhaustion of the physical effort they had been putting in, their grades weren't exactly at their peaks. Most of teachers dismissed it with a sigh, as _all_ the students became distracted with the thoughts and preparation of the upcoming festival, but there was one classroom that had become more miserable than ever.

Everyone knew that Professor C. L. Dante was an unfair, no-good, prick and even the other teachers hated him. But there were no words to describe the complete ass he was being to anyone he talked to in the days leading up to the festival. The only way to avoid him was to be as neutral as possible: You couldn't be loud, but you couldn't keep quiet either. Your grades couldn't be bad, but they couldn't be amazing, or else he would blame you for cheating. Basically, you didn't want to stand out.

Team RECK was standing just inside an abandoned classroom on a Thursday morning, where they had stopped to figure out where they wanted to go after Grimm Studies since Velvet was sick and History had been canceled that day.

"I just don't understand that man!" Clara was pacing back and forth with her hands on her head. He had just threatened to punish, or even suspend anyone who talked about anything unrelated to his subject while they were in his classroom. "At this point, I just want to figure out why he's so intent on making everyone's lives miserable."

"It seems like he really has something against the Vytal Festival." Kiara said, pulling the strap of her bag further over her shoulder.

"Or maybe there's something in his personal life that he's mad about." River suggested, leaning against the back of a chair that was in the room. "And he's taking it out on everyone else."

"Maybe his girlfriend is cheating on him." Ember's mouth twitched upward at the thought.

"There's no way that slimy cockroach could get anything remotely close to a girl to date him." River scowled, "In his stupid sweater vests, and his buffed leather shoes, and that disgusting comb over."

"Maybe that's why he's mad. The best thing he could get for a girl was a cow." Ember grinned.

"A demented cow, maybe." Clara said, a smirk finally starting to breakthrough on her face.

"Dante _is_ a demented cow." River laughed.

It was extremely common for students (and occasionally the other professors) to describe Dante with the foulest names they could think of behind his back. It was not so common, however, for him to be standing right outside the door when they did so.

Dante was wearing his ugliest and most threatening scowl as he pushed open the door of the empty classroom. He seemed to be twice his size when he was angry, and with him blocking the door and their only escape, the girls felt the most amount of fear that they ever would from a professor. It was at the time when they knew they were done for.

"Thank you for sharing your opinion about me, Ms. Bay," Dante spat, "And let me share with all of you, mine. Your team had disgusted me since the day you entered my classroom. You're lazy, ignorant, and foolish to have attended this school. And you will all see me this Saturday from twelve to four p.m. for detention."

"But that's the exact same time their holding tournament tryouts!" River exclaimed.

Dante's eyes flashed with foul mirth. "Well then, maybe that will teach you to watch your tongue. And your grades. You've all failed yesterday's test. If you fail another you'll be failing a very important course that counts towards your huntsman licenses."

The girls' mouths dropped in shock at his audacity. Clara opened her mouth to speak but Ember grabbed her arm from behind.

"I'll see you on Saturday then." Dante said. Then he left the classroom without another word, closing the door behind him.

Team RECK stood for a moment in shock before Clara broke free from Ember's grip and whirled around. "What was that?!" she yelled.

"We did kind of insult him." Kiara hung her head low.

"Nothing that wasn't one hundred percent true!" River threw her arms up in annoyance.

"What are we going to do now?" Ember groaned, "We have a _four_ hour long detention that just threw all our hard work and training to the gutter."

Kiara put her head in her hands and held back frustrated tears "We wouldn't have made it anyway."

"That's not even the point!" Clara exclaimed.

"What about the test? I don't think I've studied harder!" River said, "I was positive that I'd get a B, even with Dante's grading. There's absolutely _no way_ that we failed."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now." Ember said softly.

"What, you're not even angry about it?" River yelled at her.

Ember's ears flattened and she spun to face River. "Yeah, I'm angry about it!" she shouted, "I'm angry about more things than you could ever imagine!" she turned away from River and said coldly, "You have _no_ idea what anger is."

"You think I don't know? You think _I_ don't know?!"

"Guys, stop yelling, people can hear you." Kiara interrupted, glancing towards the door.

"Yeah, you better shut up and get over it, because there's nothing we can do." Clara forcefully grabbed her school bag, knocking over a chair in the process. "I knew the whole thing was a stupid waste of time. I could have been sketching." she angrily walked over to the door and exited the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

A few seconds passed before River gathered her things as well and made for the door. "I'm going back to the dorm." she said sharply, closing the door behind her with a little less force than Clara.

Ember and Kiara stood together in the stinging silence, taking a moment to process their emotions through their minds.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Kiara asked.

Ember shook her head, "Nothing."

Kiara fell into a chair and put her elbow on the table beside it, putting her face in her hands. "This sucks."

Ember stared at the door after her teammates. "Tell me about it."

R…..E…..C…..K

The rest of the girl's Thursday seemed to pass by at a slow crawl. Everywhere they went they were reminded of their unfortunate mishap with Dante. While other students were hyping themselves up for tournament tests, they had to sit back and watch, knowing that they would have four hours of file organizing or essay writing, or whatever Dante had planned for them. And it didn't help that team RYFL kept shooting them sympathetic glances or words of encouragement.

Both teams were sitting together at lunch on Friday. Team RYFL was quietly but excitedly chatting among themselves about a new attack they were going over. Team RECK was sitting on the other side of the table, looking dejected and keeping to themselves. Ember was slowly peeling and eating an orange, River was picking at her pasta with her fork, Kiara was fiddling with her hands, and Clara had shoved her tray aside in favor of her sketchbook as she worked on a sketch of a fierce-looking grimm.

Team RYFL, though trying to continue their conversation, felt the annoyed and depressing vibes coming off of their friends and soon fell quiet.

Roxanna stared at them in annoyance before breaking the silence by saying, "Alright, I'm sorry for you guys, I really am, but quit moping around and being killjoys. Just because you're having a sucky time doesn't mean you have to ruin everyone else's."

River and Clara both looked up at her in annoyance.

Lola spoke up as well, "Yeah, c'mon guys! Why don't you come practice with us today?"

Clara scoffed and turned back to her paper. "Why?"

Roxanna put her hands down on the table. "Because testing or not, you can still improve as huntresses."

Ember looked up reluctantly. "Well, I'll come. I bored and I'm tired of moping."

Finn grinned, "That's more like it. Come on, Kiara. You'll come too, right?"

Kiara put chin on her fist, "Fine, I guess."

Lola cheered, "You gotta come too, Clara and River. We can have a team on team battle!"

"Yes, why don't we see who's trained harder?" Yatsohide asked. "If 'all that work' really _did_ go to waste," he smiled.

River perked up a bit, but sank back down in her seat in a fake air of nonchalance. "Well, I guess I have nothing better to do. That…" she cracked a smile, " would be pretty fun."

Clara shut her sketchbook with a sigh. "I'm in."

"Then let's go to the field out back!" Lola jumped from her seat, shoving carrot sticks in her mouth as she did and grabbing her bag to exit as quickly as possible.

"Hold up there, Lola! We're coming." Roxanna yelled after her.

The two teams walked across campus and made their way out to "their" practicing field behind the dorm building, mostly encouraged by Lola. There they stripped away their bags and school supplies and got out their weapons. When they were all stretched and warmed up they separated into their respectful teams and got into fighting stances.

"Alright, ready to eat dust, Bay?" Roxanna snarled, tightening her grip on her katana. Although they'd learned to get along better, River and Roxanna still had a silent grudge that they held against each other.

"In your dreams, Rouge," River replied, tossing a knife in the air before catching it and spinning it around her fingers.

"Can we start?" Clara asked loudly.

"Just go!" Lola yelled back, charging towards Clara.

Clara bit her lip and settled into a defensive position, waiting for Lola's attack. As soon as the blonde reached her, she engaged her aura and semblance and put her arm in front of her, sending a light purple light spiraling through her arm as the back of Lola's curved blade made contact with it.

Lola was forced backwards a couple steps and looked at Clara in surprise. "Wow, you've improved a lot already!"

Clara shrugged and gave her a small smile, "I've been practicing hard."

Unfortunately, when Clara let her guard down, Yatsohide came at her from behind with his axe. Clara whirled around, but right as his blade should have contact with her shoulder, Ember jumped at him from the side, knocking him down. They both rolled across the grass and up into kneeling positions.

"Watch what you're doing!" Ember shouted.

"Right," Clara mumbled, spinning back around to face Lola as she advanced for another attack.

"You guys are being ruthless," River laughed in a half amusement, half suprise.

"This is a fight, we're supposed to be." Roxanna grunted, swinging her blade at River. River just barely blocked her sword, but Roxanna kicked her foot into River's gut, shoving her to the ground.

River gasped and rolled over, clutching her stomach. "You heard her. Kick it up a notch!" she grunted to her own teammates. "Kiara, tiger mode!"

Kiara's eyes narrowed and she thrust her blade down through the air beside her as she got ready to charge Finn.

Finn frowned, "Hey, I'm the one who's part tiger, shouldn't I be the one in- Woah!" he had to dive into a roll to get out of the way of Kiara's fierce attack.

Ember laughed, "Yeah, Kiara! Tiger mode!"

It looked like they had found one way to get Kiara to stop second guessing herself and go for it for once.

"Ember!" River called out while dodging another of Roxanna's attacks. "Shadowfox, Red and Black."

Ember glanced at River from where she was holding her staff up against Yatsohide's blade. She flicked her tail as a signal that she had heard her leader and shoved Yatsohide backwards towards River and Roxanna (he might be smart but he wasn't particularly strong).

River jumped away from Roxanna and into the shadow of a large tree that was standing in the field. Using her semblance, she grabbed a part of the shadow and spun it around and over her hands and arms, weaving it into a long, rope-like strand. Then she pushed her hands out towards Roxanna and Yatsohide and the strand shot towards them, coiling around both of their bodies until River clenched her fist and the stretch of shadow tightened around them and solidified, slamming them into each other.

Ember then ran towards them and shoved them to the ground with her staff before delivering a final blow that dropped both of their auras to the red.

River released her semblance and Roxanna and Yatsohide fell apart from each other with groans of pain.

"I'm...impressed." Yatso grunted, "It seems like your team has been developing planned attack patterns." he rolled to his knees and supported himself with his axe. "Though, if I may ask, what did the red and black mean?"

Ember grinned as she helped Roxanna to her feet. "It was the color of our target's hair."

"Guys, we're still fighting!" Clara yelled from where Lola was surprisingly dominating their fight.

"No one hurts my friends! Not even my friends!" Lola yelled.

"Right, see you later." River stuck her tongue out at Roxanna and ran to help Clara. Roxanna rolled her eyes, but cracked a grin.

Kiara didn't seem to need any help with Finn, as a second later she had him down and aura depleted. And together Clara and River defeated Lola.

"You guys totally ruined my hair!" she panted, "And it was looking so good today."

"Good fight." Finn said reaching out to shake River's hand. He shook each of their hands in turn, but when he got to Ember he took her hand gently and kissed the back of it, causing her to blush.

"Although I hate to admit it, your team very thoroughly beat ours. You look like you've been taking your training very seriously." Yatsohide commented.

"What? Oh c'mon, they were totally lucky." Roxanna crossed her arms.

"Roxanna even you can't say that. They're obviously the better fighters." Finn said, "But that doesn't mean we won't catch up soon." he smirked, "You guys better watch your backs."

Ember laughed, "I can't watch my back when I have to watch Clara's."

"Hey! I totally knew you were there to stop him." Clara pouted.

River laughed, "Don't worry, Ember. I'll watch your back."

"Then I guess I'll watch yours." Kiara said to River.

"Fine, then I get Kiara." Clara said.

"Aww, look at you. All teamwork-y and supportive. Just a while ago you were all pitying yourselves." Roxanna smiled.

Team RECK's faces dropped a little at the reminder of their misfortune.

"Well, I guess it's better this way. We can spend more time training so that we'll be even more prepared for the next tournament that rolls around." River said.

"Yeah, what chance did a group of freshmen have getting in anyway?" Clara pointed out.

"Hey, stop that! We're still trying to get in!" Lola complained.

They all laughed.

R…..E…..C…..K

That Saturday morning started bright an early. In contrast to the lazy students who usually slept in, or mosied around campus in a sleepy haze, this weekend was quite different. Everyone jumped out of their beds and hurried down to the cafeteria to get the best breakfast options, and chatter excitedly to their friends before the tournament tryouts. There was an excitement and anxiety-raising energy that buzzed throughout the school. Even the other professors, who usually were nowhere to be found of the weekends, were out of their offices and almost as excited as their pupils.

Team RECK, though still feeling very sore about the matter, had given up on being upset about it and had instead set out to support their friends.

"It's a shame that we can't watch the fights either. It would've been really fun," Ember sighed as she sat down next to River and Kiara on a bench that was in the shade in a little nook of the courtyard, right by a door to enter Beacon's main building. There wasn't much room anywhere else since students where swarming the place.

"Yeah, well, just don't remind me of what _we_ have to look forward to this afternoon." Clara muttered, leaning against the wall beside the bench.

"Who do think is going to get in for Beacon?" River asked, crossing her legs on the bench.

"Team AMB(e)R, obviously. They're practically unbeatable in combat class," Clara said. "And maybe team ARR(o)W."

"What about the other schools?" Ember asked.

"Well, Atlas is doing their tests back at their academy." River answered.

"Haven did theirs at the beginning of the school year. And Shade did theirs here last weekend." Clara finished

"Yeah. I'm just really surprised that more people from Beacon aren't trying out." Ember said.

"Maybe they're scared after what happened last time." Kiara suggested.

"Someone would be really stupid to try anything this time. The security is so tight, I heard you're not allowed to bring grapes in the stadium." Ember said.

"Grapes? What's wrong with grapes?" Clara asked in bewilderment.

"Apparently there was an accident with someone attacking one of the contestants with grapes after he won a round, and it actually broke through his aura."

River laughed, "Wow, what a humiliating way to get your aura depleted."

"Hey guys, it's eleven thirty." Kiara said. "We better go to Dante' now so that we're not late."

"It takes eight minutes at most to walk across campus, and our detention is at twelve!" River said.

"Yeah but we do _not_ want to be late." Clara reminded her.

"But we can't be early either or we get in trouble then, too." Ember said, standing up from the bench.

"Then we'll have to wait outside his office." River said, getting up as well.

"I hate that man so much." Clara scowled.

As team RECK drew nearer to Professor Dante's office, the stream of students grew thinner. They were all traveling in the opposite direction towards the combat classroom which would be used for the testing.

The girls had a chance to wish team RYFL good luck one last time before continuing down to the teachers' offices, which were located on the lowest level of the school.

As they descended down the steps and into a long stone hallway with stone walls, it seemed to get colder. Or maybe it was just their blood at the thought of spending four hours alone with their professor.

The hallway was eerily silent and a couple of the lights were out, creating a darker atmosphere.

"Wow, this feels like something out of a horror film." River said quietly. Her voice echoed a little down the hallway.

The girls inched slowly down the narrow path, silently checking each of the names on the doors for Dante's office.

"Hey look, I found Velvet's office," Ember said, pointing to a door with a personalized plaque on it, painted green, orange, brown, and yellow. ' _Professor Scarlatina'_ was etched upon it in fancy letter but around that someone had graffitied names like "Velvs", "Fluff Bun", and "Little bunny foo foo".

The girls laughed at it.

"I think some of that is Coco's handwriting." River pointed out the sharp and eccentric lettering that looked like what Coco had written on the chalkboard the day she crashed their class.

Just knowing that the sweet, soft spoken girl also resided down in that dark dreary hallway made the girls feel a little more comfortable.

The sound of a door shutting caused all four girls to jump. They all spun around to see what had made the noise.

They saw Professor Gray exiting her office, trailed by the Headmaster Qrow. Professor Gray was looking over something on a clipboard with a frown on her old, tired face, listing off things and talking rapidly to Qrow, all while the headmaster looked like he'd rather be taking a nap.

"-but if you look at it on this sheet, the numbers are different. I don't know who was in charge of-" Professor Gray stopped short when she noticed team RECK standing awkwardly in the middle of the hallway. "What are you students doing down here?" she asked.

"We're here to see Professor Dante," River said nervously.

"You _want_ to find Professor Dante?" The woman asked incredulously.

"For detention…" River shifted her feet awkwardly.

Qrow scoffed, "Yeah, well you're Professor is away on a last minute _business trip,"_ he said, as if he was annoyed. "So he'll just have to reschedule it."

"If you're planning on trying out for the tournament, you'd better hurry." Professor Gray said. "Professor Goodwitch won't be holding the sign-ups open for much longer."

Team RECK stood for a moment in shock. It was as if someone had told them Christmas had come early; as if a hundred pounds had just been lifted off their shoulders.

"On… a business trip?" Ember asked in disbelief. Their professor did have a strange tendency to disappear some days for "business trips".

"Yes, yes, he'll be gone for the weekend, now would you please hurry along. We've got our own business to attend to."

Team RECK, although not fully believing it, turned around and walked quickly back down the hallway and up the stairs.

They quickly caught up with the couple of slaggers who were still walking to the combat classroom and hurried on.

"Am I dreaming?" Ember asked.

"The sun does seem a little too bright to be real." Clara added happily.

"I'm still not registering this." River said, putting her head in her hands as they walked swiftly down the crowded hallway. "This means we can still compete for a place in the tournament."

Kiara bit her lip as her expression tensed into one of worry. "I'm not prepared for that."

"We've gotta do it. It's fate that we've ended up here! You'll be alright, Kiara." Ember assured her.

"No. No, guys, I don't think I can." she said anxiously.

"C'mon Kiara, you're a huntress." River said.

Kiara huffed angrily, "Exactly; I'm a fighter, not a performer."

"Then let's get out there and fight. Stop thinking about everyone else. They don't matter. You came here to fight and that's what you're going to do."

Kiara breathed out. "...Okay, I'll try."

"Don't just try; win. You know you can. We know you can. That's the only thing that matters." Clara said firmly.

They came up to the line of digital sign up sheets on the wall of one side of the hallway outside the combat classroom. It was swarmed with other teams waiting to sign-up.

"If you're not signing up, or have already signed up, please move along!" they heard Professor Goodwitch yell.

A good patch of people cleared away from the hallway, letting team RECK through.

River walked up to one of the empty screens and clicked the bright blue button that said "Sign Up!".

She breathed out nervously. "Alright, here we go."

With a slightly shaking hand, she clicked the button before typing in their team name. After she'd pressed 'submit', she stepped away from the screen and towards her teammates.

"No going back now," she said

"Oh wow, we're really doing this." Ember said in a hushed tone.

"Yep," Clara responded.

Together they walked through the doors of the classroom. The tests had already begun and they caught a glimpse of the team that was fighting from behind the swarm of people gathered to watch.

They made their way over to the least crowded side of the bleachers and took a seat.

"Are those robots?" Ember asked, pointing down to the fighting arena, where the team that was currently being tested were fighting four tall robots.

"Wow, yeah they are," River replied loudly over all the yelling and cheering, "I guess that kind of makes sense. They couldn't have teams fighting other teams because it could get unfair depending on if a team had already fought or had lost energy."

A boy that was cheering the team on next to them leaned over to them and spoke over the noise, "Yeah, this way they can just have a team go and then gather their points, and that's it. No confusing brackets or any of that."

"But how to they get points? What's the scoring system?" Clara asked the boy.

"Well, the robots are Atlas tech and are almost unbeatable-"

Suddenly there was a huge gasp/cheer from the crowd and they looked back down to see that one of the robots had been cut in half by the team in the arena.

"I said almost, they get worn down after so many fights. But they'll just replace them." the boy continued with a smirk, "The score is mostly based on how long you can stay in the arena, but it also has to do with how well you fight, which is judged by some old huntsmen or something," he said, pointing to a small stand where two men and a woman were seated and watching the fights.

"Thanks!" Ember said politely.

"No problem," replied the guy.

The old team left the arena and a new team was called up.

"Team DASH, please report to the arena." a loudspeaker boomed over all the voices.

"Hey, that's my team!" The boy jumped from his seat and followed his other teammates down the stairs and towards the combat ring.

"Good luck!" River and Ember called after him.

"There are so many people here," Kiara said nervously.

"Yeah." Clara agreed.

"Hey, don't worry about them. We're just another team, they won't even remember us if we do bad." River told them.

"Wow, way to raise our spirits, fearless leader." Clara rolled her eyes.

Team RECK waited impatiently for their name to be called. The place cleared up a lot because they had already fought, or they were tired of watching.

They got to watched team RYFL fight, though. They did okay until Lola and Yatsohide slammed into each other, knocking out their own auras. There were a lot of teams but they _might_ have a chance at making it into the tournament.

Finally, after two anxious hours of waiting, the loud speaker called out "Team RECK. Team RECK to the arena, please."

Team RECK gave startled jumps when they heard they're name called.

"I was beginning to think they forgot about us and I wouldn't have to do this," Kiara groaned as they stood up and nervously made their way down the classroom bleachers.

Ember gave a weak laugh, "It'll be okay. I mean…I hope it will." she felt sweat soak her shaky hands and she wiped them on the bottom of her shirt.

"Got your weapons?" River asked, feeling the need to insert herself _somewhere_ as a leader.

"Yeah, of course." Clara's hand went instinctively to the hilt of her sword, comforted by the metallic click it made against its belt as it bounced on her leg. She was good at blocking people out (In _some_ situations when she shouldn't), so Clara was more worried about the test itself then the people watching.

"Team RECK." Professor Goodwitch was standing by the stairs to the arena and motioned with her hand for them to enter.

Team RECK obliged, and the moment they were all in, the shield went up and around the arena, locking them in and making their lighting a little dimmer.

The four robots, which were each painted a different color and stood around ten feet tall, were standing in the middle of the ring, waiting. They looked much bigger and more menacing up close.

A large clock on the wall was counting down from RECK put their hands on their weapons and braced themselves, waiting for the cue to start.

"Focus on your breathing." River reminded them, to which they gave her small nods.

"Think about the weight of your body, where your momentum is going. And remember our attack patterns."

All was silent as they waited. Ember's fox ears flicked. Clara breathed out deeply.

"Remember: we've been training. We know what we're doing." River clenched her fist around her knife. "We're ready."

The timer hit zero and a loud horn blasted, signaling their start.

The girls immediately jumped in different direction of the arena as the robots started up. The one painted blue and silver locked on Ember and ran towards her, its metal feet making a rhythmic ' _clunk, clunk'._ Against the wooden arena floor. She swiftly dove out of the way, extending her staff to trip the bot. It stumbled for two steps but easily regained its composure. Ember's brow furrowed. The robots were a lot more stable than she thought.

Kiara and Clara took on two of the robots together, one painted red and gold, and the other yellow and silver. Clara threw all her weight into a blow at the yellow robot's leg, and was surprised (and annoyed) to see that it left only the tiniest of scratches. She was even more surprised when the robot took a swing at her with its giant arm. Clara dove out of the way just in time and rolled so that she had one knee on the ground.

 _I forgot they fight back_ , she thought to herself.

Kiara jumped out of the way from the red robot that she was fighting and blocked the one that was coming at Clara so that her teammate had time to get back up again. Clara stood and jumped right back into the fight.

River hurled knife after knife at her enemy, a green and gold robot, but it didn't seem to have any effect. And she was running out of knives to throw.

 _It's going to be annoying to have to pick them all up._ She thought.

River glanced down hesitantly at the untouched knife/gun at her hip, hand hovering above it. She felt a wave of uneasiness come over her, as if she was recalling a bad memory, but unfortunately for her, she couldn't _remember_ any memories. She shook her head and leapt to side to avoid another attack from the droid, swiping up one of her knives as she went.

Even though the giant shield surrounding the arena helped to block out the noise, as well as her vision of the hundreds of students watching their fight, Kiara could feel the eyes upon her. But she did her best to block it out and focus on the task at hand.

She lunged at the robot with her rapier, trying to pick out possible weak spots in the metal giant, like joints or thinner armor, but the droids seemed to be completely unable to be harmed, all the way from their heads right down to their metal toes.

 _Wait,_ Kiara looked, and no, they didn't actually have toes.

"Clara!" She called out to her teammate to cover her as she jumped out of her opponent's range and twisted a small metal piece of her sword and clicked it into place, making the blade fold and unravel in places, transforming it into a rifle.

Clara saw this and jumped out of the way of their two robots as Kiara took her aim and shot at the droids. But her bullets ricocheted right off them and went flying across the battle arena.

"Agh!" Ember ducked and clutched her staff as a bullet went flying past her head.

Clara growled in frustration. "What's the point of this stupid test if you can't beat the enemy?!" She yelled, throwing her sword arm downwards in frustration.

"Clara, calm down!" River cautioned, yelling back across the ring to her angry partner.

"No, this is pointless!" Clara ran towards the red robot, dodging the metal arm that flew towards her and using it as a stepping stool to jump upwards and onto the droid's head. Her sword fell out of her hand and she had to grip the robotic face with her arms and legs to keep from falling as the robot flailed it's limbs, trying to knock her off. The fact that Clara was covering its eyes giving it a disadvantage.

River ignored the distant roar of laughter coming from the bleachers on the other side of the shield as a light suddenly went off in her head.

Clara was thrown forcefully from the robot's head and onto the ground, but before she could get up, a second robot was lifting her up and throwing her across the arena where she hit the bottom of the shield.

The giant screen on the wall flashed and a buzzer went off, declaring her out of the match. There was a chorus of sympathetic "Ooh's" from the bleachers.

"Clara, you idiot!" River cried in a worried tone as she rushed towards her teammate to make sure she was alright.

Clara waved her off from where she lay on the floor in regret, giving River an apologetic look. "Go fight! I'm fine." she said. A small door appeared in the wall of shield and a man was there, motioning for Clara to exit the arena.

River was quickly brought back to the fight when she heard Ember cry out, followed by another gasp from the crowd, and she realized that she had left her two other teammates to fight the four robots alone.

Dashing back over to the pair, she quickly motioned them over. They leapt away from the robots and followed River in a sort of slow circle around the arena to dodge the bots.

"I've got an idea," Their leader began, "The robots have a scanning system that allows them a three-dimensional, three-hundred sixty degree view, but I'm pretty sure that their eyes are the source. If we can disable them-"

"Then they can't find us, and we'll have beat the system." Ember finished.

"Exactly." River grinned.

"But how do we get to them?" Kiara asked, looking over her shoulder at the bots, "The eyes are sunk into the metal face so that you can't reach them."

River huffed. "I guess we'll just have to have good aim."

"I've got great aim!" Ember exclaimed, pausing her slow jog to point a thumb at herself.

River stopped as well. "Alright, Hawkeye, you'll get your turn."

"What?"

"What?"

Their banter was broken when they realized that the robots were a lot closer than they had thought.

"You have to distract them, River," Kiara said in a somewhat panicked tone. "I'll get the blue one with my rifle."

"I've got green," Emer said.

"I can't distract them all!" River cried out, but her teammates had already moved to get in position.

 _Blue, blue,_ River thought, dodging the yellow robot and jumping towards the blue one. She led it to the opposite side of the arena before struggling to get it to turn around, painfully aware that she other robots were catching up.

"Kiara, hurry!" She called out.

"I can't shoot that high and get the clean shot!" Kiara yelled back.

Ember stood next to her partner. "I'll give you a boost. Stand on my shoulders."

With little time to negotiate, Kiara obliged and excepted Ember's boost onto her shoulders. It was at times like this where the strength and balance of a huntress were needed. Well… maybe not _exactly_ times like this.

Kiara held her breath and didn't waste a moment in taking steady aim as she saw her leader being closed in. She pointed the gun right in one the tiny slots inside the blue robot's face. She placed her finger on the trigger and pulled.

 _One._ A bang rang out through the air as she let the bullet fly before quickly recalibrating her aim for the other slit. _Two._

The light in the eyes of the blue robot flickered and died. Unable to see, it took two wobbly, blind steps forward before it shut down, probably the doing of the robots' safety regulator who was watching the tests.

Ember let out a cheer, causing Kiara to fall from her shoulders, thankfully landing safely.

Unfortunately, River was unable to get away from the other three robots and the next thing she knew, several metal arms came crashing down around her. The buzzer rang out again and declared River disqualified from the match.

"No!" Ember's enthusiasm was quickly replaced with regret.

"Come one, we've got to keep going!" Kiara told her, watching as the robots turned away from River and towards them.

"But there's no way we can get them all." Ember said in defeat.

"Yes, we can." Kiara said firmly.

Ember smiled, "Wow, the tables have certainly turned," she said, receiving an eye roll from her partner.

"Look, we can use the blue robot as a platform to aim from," Kiara pointed out.

The two girls dashed across the arena to the offline robot as the others had just made it to them.

"They may be durable, but they're slow," Ember commented, as she jumped onto the blue robot's arm and heaved herself onto its shoulders. "I've got this one."

She got her staff into its bow form and pulled an explosive dust tipped arrow from the pocket of her black combat vest. She nocked it and aimed for the eye of the green robot.

"My arrows won't fit inside the eye socket but the explosion should help."

Taking aim was easy for her after years of practice, and she released the string of the bow, sending the arrow into motion. It hit its mark with loud boom as a burst of flame seemed to light up the inside of its head for a moment before it went out and the second robot was quickly shut off.

The yellow robot had made it dangerously close to them and would be very hard to avoid.

"Kiara…" Ember said worriedly.

"I got it." Kiara took off towards the robot.

"Kiara!" Ember yelled after her. But it was too late. The robot hand clamped down on her, pulling her up to eye-level.

Which was exactly what Kiara wanted. She placed her rifle right up to the robot's eye and pulled the trigger.

It knocked out both of the robot's eyes, but before it was shut off, it managed to do as it had planned and threw Kiara with a heavy force to the ground. The buzzer sounded a third time, calling Kiara out of the match.

"Kiara!" Ember shouted from where she still stood on the blue robot's shoulders.

"Go, get the last one!" Kiara called back as she exited the arena.

Ember took a deep breath as she scanned the area for the last robot, the red one. It was almost caught up with her and she wouldn't be able to aim properly from where she was. But Ember's aura was dangerously low, having taken a bad hit already. If she didn't get this last robot, she would be failing her entire team.

Spurred by that anxiety laden thought, she made a split second decision. Jumping from the back of the blue robot, her teammates watched from outside the arena in confusion as she switched her bow back into a staff and charged at the red robot. As soon as she made it up to the droid, she did a Clara and jumped onto its metal chest, straddling it with her legs as she flipped open the blade on the end of her staff. As the robot reached up to grab her, she took her staff and plunged the blade end into one of its metal eye sockets, before doing the same with the other. The force made her lose her balance and she fell from the giant, knocking out the last of her own aura as she hit the ground.

The final airhorn blasted to declare their match over, right as the red robot was shut off.

Ember quickly made for the exit of the arena, slightly limping on a twisted ankle that had been hurt on low aura. As soon as she made it to her friends, she wrapped them all in giant hugs.

"We did it!" she shouted gleefully

Even Clara accepted the hug as she smiled. "We did."

"Even though _someone_ nearly had us ruined." River scowled at Clara, but happiness was evident in her eyes.

"Who? Kiara?" Clara retorted.

"What? I saved you all!" Kiara joined in the banter, happy to have the pressure over.

"Team RECK, if you would please _move out of the way."_

They jumped when they heard Professor Goodwitch's voice behind them, and willingly stepped away from the arena so that the new team could enter.

The professor continued, "There were some _major_ mistakes in your tactics." Team RECK looked away in shame. " _But_ … you did pull through in the end, and that's all that matters now. Although, I will _not_ be allowing such brashness in my classroom, and I can assure you that no sane man looking to hire a huntsman would either." turning away from them she mumbled, "Now we have to get more replacement robots."

Team RECK smiled at each other in amusement.

R…..E…..C…..K

"Finally, the tests are over! It only took _four hours!_ " Lola whispered excitedly to her friends as team RECK and RYFL sat together in the stands of the combat classroom, waiting for the results of the tests.

River rolled her eyes, "Yeah, but neither of our teams will get in. We all messed up according to Professor Goodwitch."

"Shut up, Riv." Roxanna muttered, "That doesn't mean we won't get in, there are eight places to be filled."

Several people around them told them to quiet down as one the judges began talking. "If the teams would please come to the fighting platform as we call your name." The huntsman said, "In first place is team ARRW-"

"I knew it." River said with a smile

"In second place is team SN(i)P(e)R. Third place is team BLCK-"

"What!?" Ember hissed angrily to her teammates, "How the heck did team BLCK get in third! _We_ can beat them in a fight."

Clara frowned, "I'm not sure," she said quietly, listening to the rest of the results for their name

"-fourth place is team AMBR. In fifth place is team S(i)LV(e)R. In sixth place is team DASH."

"That's the team of the guy who talked to us in the bleachers." River said.

"In seventh place is team SURG. And in eighth place is team C(o)PP(e)R!"

A small cheer along with a boo echoed across the large room, as a mix of disappointed teams, as well as supportive students and friends expressed themselves.

Teams RECK and RYFL clapped politely, although they were both disappointed.

"Well, it was a small chance and we took it." Roxanna said.

"I guess we can try again in two years." Finn sighed. "Although, it'll be in Haven and I'm not much of a traveller."

"I just want to know how in world team BLCK got in. In third place no less." River frowned.

"I guess karma isn't real, but luck seems to be." Yatsohide commented.

As everyone was standing to leave one of the judges stopped them, "Please be seated again, we may have had a change of events." Everyone looked at each other and the room filled with the confused hum of whispering and questions.

The judges were all leaning together whispering and pointing in the direction of the teams standing on the platform. After a few more minutes they walked onto the platform and talked to team BLCK, the judges looked angry as they spoke, the teams around them stared in shocked silence.

The judges took something from the team and then escorted them off the platform and had them go back to the stands.

One of the judges walked back up to the microphone and leaned into it, "I am sorry for the long wait, but it seems team BLCK has been disqualified after being found with using stolen aura enhancers."

There was a gasp from the crowd and the place started buzzing with noise as everyone began to gossip. A screech from the microphone had everyone fall silent as the man tapped it. "Our ninth place team will now be taking their place to compete in the tournament. Team RECK please come forward." The judge spoke.

"No _freaking_ way!" Ember screeched.

"Congratulations, and good luck to all of our competitors." The room erupted with cheers, and people booing and clapping.

The girls hopped up and down and grabbed each other in excitement and disbelief.

"Go on and get up there!" Lola exclaimed, seemingly more excited than team RECK themselves.

River turned to her teammates, and grinned and they ran toward the platform.

"Oh no.. I know what that smile means." Kiara groaned.

"More team training?" Clara asked.

"You know it!" River said with a fake evil laugh.

Together the team stood on the platform (for what reason they had no idea, that's just what they were supposed to do).

They all came to the academy for different reasons. To fulfill their dreams. To please someone else. They came to realise that they all had an over-fantasised this vision of becoming a hero, much like anyone else. They had seen themselves as becoming independent and getting through it on their own. But now they saw that they didn't have to. The unlikeliest of friends, people they saw as random strangers before, were closer to them than they thought possible. They weren't perfect. They weren't even as close as they could be. But there was something more; something none of them could explain. Something that linked them together more than they knew. But in a strange way, they knew that it couldn't have been a coincidence that they were together. They all felt the same dark presence from their pasts. And something told them that their pasts were an echo from their future. An echo that would fill their heads and invade their present.

 **The End Of Volume 1**

 **A/N: Hey guys! So, what did you think of the volume? What do you want to see in the 2nd one? Please comment, we love hearing your opinions! If you want to see more from us including the 2nd volume of this series (which have huge plans for!) please follow us. We will be taking a long hiatus from posting, not writing, so that we can get ahead before we start posting again.**

 **We're so excited to continue our story through the world of Remnant and we'd like to give credit to it's original creator, Monty Oum. A lot of people forget that he was the genius that created the original idea of the world. There's been a lot of disagreements about the subject of RWBY and where the credit of its good and bad qualities lie. We personally think that all the volumes that Monty didn't work on are not his RWBY, but somebody else's and it's sad to see that he couldn't live to fulfill his great opportunity, but regardless we give our support to all of the show's writers and producers. We hope that Monty would be proud of the way we used his world to make a story and we really hope that this story brought as much fun to any readers as it does to us. Thanks for any support and encouragement that was given and thank you for reading. We'll see in the next volume of Team RECK: The World of Remnant!**

 **\- Jay, Ren, Em, and Mau**


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